Sepahan eliminate Esteghlal from ACL

PFDC – ESFAHAN, Sepahan Esfahan celebrated a well deserved 2-0 victory over Esteghlal Tehran in the Asian Champions League’s round of 16 on Tuesday to become the first side to qualify for the quarterfinals.

In the only leg of the first playoff round in a packed Naghsh-e-Jahan stadium, the homeside took an early lead. Noone felt responsible for veteran playmaker Moharram Navidkia, who unleashed a tricky shot from outside the box which could be saved by Mehdi Rahmati.

However, neither Xhevahir Sukaj nor Bruno Cesar Correa were marked well and so the Albanian striker could head the rebound to the Brazilian, who made it 1-0 with a well placed but all but powerful effort after eight minutes.

Esteghlal failed to really impose pressure on the four-time Iranian league champions and were punished for their lacklustre performance after 35 minutes.

Again Sukaj escaped his marker and was able to head a corner kick to the far post back to center, were defender Mohsen Bengar rose above all opponents and powerfully headed the ball into the net.

The visitors never looked like pulling one back and so Sepahan rather convincingly booked their place among Asia’s top eight.

Persepolis Tehran will be eager to follow Sepahan to the quarterfinal stage Wednesday night, when they will take on Al Ittihad in Jeddah a 09:10pm local time.

In the other round of 16 game played on Tuesday, Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia defeated Al Jazeera of the UAE after penalty kicks. The game had ended 2-2 after regular and 3-3 after extra time.