Al Jazira 2-1 Esteghlal

AFC – ABU DHABI, Esteghlal’s unbeaten run in Group A of the AFC Champions League came to an end on Wednesday as they suffered a 2-1 defeat to Al Jazira at Mohamed bin Zayid Stadium.

The Iranians had taken the lead through Farhad Majidi in the 38th minute but Saleh Bashir levelled after 51 minutes before Tariq Ahmed sealed the win three minutes later.

The victory was the first for Al Jazira in the tournament but was not enough to prevent them finishing bottom of the group while Esteghlal had already sealed their place in the last 16 prior to the game.

Action swung from end-to-end from the start of the match as Al Jazira’s Rafael Sobis forced a save from Khosro Heydari in just the third minute before an Arash Borhani effort was denied by Ali Khasief.

Brazilian Fabio Junior then let fly with a long-range effort that flew just wide of the far post but Al Jazira should have taken the lead in the 20th minute when Abdulla Qasem was put through with a long ball but Heydari advanced and thwarted danger in a one-on-one situation.

Ahmed Dada wasted a good chance for Al Jazira midway through the half as he blasted over while at the other end Hossein Kazemi’s shot was saved by Khasief.

But Esteghlal forged ahead in the 38th minute when Kazemi dribbled into the box but as he was about to shoot he stumbled and fell. However, the Iranian quickly regained his composure and even as three Al Jazira defenders zeroed in on him, he cut back a pass to Majidi, who marked his return to UAE with a crisp strike from close range.

Al Jazira were back in the game six minutes into the second half, however, as Qasem’s shot was denied by Heydari but the rebound fell to an unmarked Bashir and he made no mistake.

The cheers of the home supporters had hardly died when three minutes later the hard-working young Ahmed despatched a brilliant shot from well outside the box that left the Esteghlal keeper rooted to the spot.

Two goals in three minutes knocked the stuffing out of the group leaders and Esteghlal were lucky not to go down by an even bigger margin as first Dada and then Sobis came close to increasing the margin.