“Persepolis deserved win over Al Wahda”: Branko Ivankovic

Tasnim – TEHRAN, Persepolis football coach Branko Ivankovic praised his players after defeating Al Wahda and said that they deserved to win the match.
Iran’s Persepolis came from behind to defeat Al Wahda of the UAE 3-2 in Group D of the AFC Champions League on Tuesday.

“I want to congratulate my players for a good game,” he said. “It was a real hard game but we deserved it.

“We led 1-0 in the first half and missed a few good scoring opportunities. Had we scored another goal or two the game would have been safer for us, because I know players like [Sebastian] Tagliabue, Valdivia and Matar are dangerous and can turn the game around at any time.”

It was a first win for Persepolis in this year’s competition after it was held to a 1-1 draw by Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia in its opener.

“We are in a group of death and the three points are very important for us to keep our hopes of qualifying to the knockout round,” Ivankovic said.

Meanwhile, Al Wahda coach Javier Aguirre says that they played better against Persepolis in second half but did not advantage of their chances.

The Emirati team almost won the match 2-1 but conceded two goals in the last 10 minutes.

“After taking the lead we had two clear scoring chances that could have killed the game. But that didn’t happen,” he said.

“We played better in the second half, however, we fell flat in the last 10 minutes, perhaps, the players panicked,” Aguirre.