Win over Pakhtakor Kept Us in 2022 ACL: Navidkia
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Sepahan football team head coach Moharram Navidkia said that the win over Pakhtakor kept them in the competition.
Sepahan beat Uzbekistan’s side 2-1 in Group D of the 2022 AFC Champions League Friday night at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.
The win kept Sepahan’s qualification hopes alive. A win against group winner Al-Duhail on the final matchday could be enough to grant the Iranians a place in the Round of 16, should other results go their way.
“I think that Pakhtakor is one of the strongest teams in this group. They played a very strong match against us. In this football game, sometimes luck is not on your side, but I congratulate Pakhtakor for their strong performance in this very difficult group,” said Navidkia.
The seven points collected by Sepahan so far leave them third in the group, trailing second-placed Al-Taawoun on head-to-head record.
“I think that the precious victory that we achieved in the last moments kept us in the competition to reserve one of the tickets to qualify for the next round, but now we have to forget about the result of this match and focus on the last match,” he added.