Esteghlal beats Saipa, goes to top of IPL

MNA – TEHRAN, The Esteghlal football team returned to the top of the Iran Professional League standings after beating Saipa on Monday.

Esteghlal edged past Saipa 1-0 in the eighth week of the IPL at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium.

The first half was very hard to watch as the two teams failed to excite the fans.

Mojtaba Jabbari scored Esteghlal’s winning goal in the 77th minute, sending the team to the top of the IPL standings with 19 points. Saba is second on goal difference.

“Saipa didn’t deserve to lose. We could have defeated Esteghlal since we had five chances. Esteghlal had just two opportunities but took advantage of them,” Saipa coach Majid Saleh said at the post-match press conference.