Ivankovic Hails Persepolis ‘Heroes’ as Iranians Take the Initiative

AFC – TEHRAN, Branko Ivankovic hailed his team of ‘heroes’ after seeing Persepolis notch up a 1-0 first leg win over Al Hilal in a Round of 16 meeting at a packed out Azadi Stadium on Tuesday that gives the Iranians the slimmest of advantages going into next week’s return meeting.

An own goal from Brazilian central defender Digao in stoppage time won the game for Persepolis, who had been second best for much of the final 45 minutes and had goalkeeper Sousha Makani to thank for several key saves.

Persepolis are aiming to reach the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League for the first time and to go into the last eight of the continental championship for the first time since 2001, when they went as far as the semi-finals in the Asian Club Championship.

“I can’t explain how happy I am after this wonderful victory,” said the former Iran national team coach. “We won a big game and I would like to congratulate the fans and my players.

“We have had two big games in just four days. We had to recover after a tough league game against Esteghlal and fortunately we got a good result and took a big step towards the quarter-final.

“Al Hilal were great and you saw all of the things I’ve told to you about this team. They were the best team in Asia last year and lost the final against Western Sydney Wanderers because of bad luck, but tonight my players were real heroes.

“In this match both side were keen to score as soon as possible but we were a little bit more careful in defence and dangerous in counter attacks. Despite having a lot of problems in recent weeks my players tried their best and you saw we won at last.”