Esteghlal Back to Winning Ways: AFC
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Esteghlal football club remained three points clear of defending champion Persepolis at the top of the table after a week of exciting matches in the Iran Pro League (IPL).
League leader Esteghlal bounced back from last week’s draw against Malavan to beat Sepahan 1-0 at the Azadi Stadium, Rouzbeh Chesmi’s strike keeping the team top of the table.
After 18 matches, Esteghlal is on 39 points while Sepahan suffered its fourth consecutive defeat, staying on 31 points from 16 matches, the-afc.com wrote.
Three points behind in second spot, Persepolis also maintained its winning streak after edging 10-man Zob Ahan 1-0 at the Foolad Shahr Stadium. Giorgi Gvelesiani’s ninth minute penalty proved to be the difference between the two teams.
Meanwhile, Tractor claimed a 2-0 win against Esteghlal Khuzestan with goals from Rahman Jafari (61st) and Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh (85th) maintaining its fourth spot in the standings.
In other matches, fifth-placed Gol Gohar beat Nassaji Mazandaran 3-0, Foolad and Malavan played to a 1-1 draw, the tie between Shams Azar and Mes Rafsanjan ended 0-0, while Paykan and Sanat Naft shared points after a 2-2 stalemate.
