ACL Next for Naft as Mansourian’s Men Miss out on League Title

AFC – TEHRAN, Naft Tehran coach Alireza Mansourian will need to muster all his man-management skills to lift his side ahead of their AFC Champions League Round of 16 clash with Al Ahli after missing out on the Iran league title on the final day of the season.

In a thrilling climax to the 2014/15 campaign, Naft travelled to Tabriz knowing that a win over table-topping Tractorsazi would give them their first Iran pro league title, with Toni Oliveira’s side only leading the way on goal difference.

Skipper Alireza Ezzati gave Naft the perfect start when the midfielder opened the scoring with just six minutes at the Yadegar-e-Emam Stadium played only for a 37th minute leveller from Brazilian striker Edinho and Andranik Teymourian’s strike one minute into first-half stoppage time to give the home side a 2-1 lead at the interval.

Farid Karimi’s goal shortly after the hour mark looked to have secured the title for last season’s runners-up but Naft weren’t giving up without a fight and goals from Ali Ghrobani (76th) and Brazilian defender Padovani (81st) to earn the capital side a fruitless point.

But that was not to say Tractorsazi had anything to celebrate as they too were to be denied the title with the trophy ultimately going to Sepahan, with Mehdi Sharifi’s first-half double downing Saipa 2-0 to see the third-placed side leapfrog Naft and Tractorsazi into top spot in a dramatic finale to the domestic season.

Sepahan’s fifth title of the professional era will see the 2007 continental champions return to the ACL after missing out on the current edition of Asia’s premier club competition, with runners-up Tractorsazi and third-placed Naft also earning their tickets to the 2016 tournament.

Naft are still in the hunt for this year’s AFC Champions League as one of two Iranian representatives alongside Persepolis, who ended their 2014/15 campaign by defeating bitter rivals Esteghlal 1-0, with Ali Alipourghara’s 65th minute goal making the 19-year-old reportedly the youngest scorer in the history of the Tehran derby.

Naft, who scraped into the knockout stage thanks to Al Shabab defeating Pakhtakor 2-0 in Uzbekistan on Matchday 6, will host Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli on Wednesday in the first leg of their Round of 16 clash, while Persepolis also entertain Saudi opposition when they take on last year’s ACL runners-up Al Ahli on Tuesday.