ACL MD4: Esteghlal of Iran defeats Al Jazira of UAE [video]

AFC – ABU DHABI, A goal from Mohammad Ghazi was enough for Iran champions Esteghlal to edge past Emirati side Al Jazira in a narrow 1-0 win in their AFC Champions League encounter at Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium on Wednesday.

Coming into the fixture unbeaten and on top of Group A, Al Jazira knew that a victory at home would put them within touching distance of the knockout stages but instead the game’s only goal was scored on 70 minutes by the visitors through striker Ghazi, granting his side their first three points of the campaign.

With Saudi Arabian side Al Shabab defeating Al Rayyan 2-0 in Doha to leapfrog Al Jazira into top spot in the group, and Esteghlal now three points behind the United Arab Emirates team in third, any premature permutations will have to be put aside now until Matchday Five.

However, an Esteghlal win had looked anything but on the cards from the actions in the first half where Al Jazira were dominant and had the lion’s share of possession and efforts on goal.

Only 10 minutes had passed before striker Abdelaziz Barrada let from the cusp of the penalty area only to see Mahdi Rehmati pull off a flying save low to his right to turn the ball behind.

The Esteghlal custodian was called into action just a minute later, pulling off another impressive save with his feet to deny Ahmed Rabia from close-range.

Rabia was guilty of missing an even better chance on 15 minutes as Ali Mabkhout set him through one-on-one with Rehmati, but the forward clipped his shot wide of the far post with the goalkeeper fully committed.

Although Ghazi put a trademark powerful header narrowly wide just before the half hour mark, their hosts were very much in the ascendancy and on 42 minutes Mabkhout blasted a powerful volley from the edge of the penalty area that Rehmati, again, did well to block with a solid parry.

Following the restart, though, it was Esteghlal who upped a gear and eight minutes into the second half, Pejman Nouri was on the end of great combination play between Arash Borhani and Ghazi who teed up Nouri for a vicious shot on goal that was well saved by Ali Khaseif.

With the introduction Mahdi Nazari, Esteghlal looked increasingly dangerous on the attack and the substitute was key to their breakthrough.

Twisting and turning on the right flank, he found fellow substitute Tony on the edge of the box and the Brazilian picked out Ghazi lurking just inside the 18-yard area.

The striker did not hesitate and unleashed a booming shot that flew into the top left-hand corner of the net and left Khaseif with no chance.

And there was no let up for the Al Jazira goalkeeper as he had to be alert to deny first Nazari and then Tony as Esteghlal threatened to put the result out of sight.

But as the game drew to a close, it was the home side who had the best and final chance to impact the scoreline as Ecuador striker Felipe Caceido forced his way through on goal only to be denied by a brave block by a flying Rehmati.