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AFC - Sokol Cikalleshi’s first half hat-trick powered Tractor FC to a 7-0 defeat of Tajikistan’s FC Ravshan on Wednesday as the side from the Islamic Republic of Iran booked their place in the knockout rounds of the AFC Champions League Two™ 2024/25.
Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh also scored twice and Ricardo Alves netted from the penalty spot for Tractor after an own goal from Kholmurod Nazarov in the fourth minute sent the Iranians on their way to a comprehensive victory at Thani bin Jassim Stadium in Doha.
The win was Tractor’s third in a row in Group A and the result means Dragan Skocic’s outfit cannot finish outside the top two in the three-team group, with Ravshan still without a point from their three games to date. Qatar’s Al Wakrah are second in the standings.
Tractor were gifted an early opener when Nazarov headed into his own net in the fourth minute, the defender redirecting Alves’ corner into his own goal as the Ravshan defence sought to deal with the threat of Cikalleshi as he made a near-post run.
The Iranian side broke through the Ravshan defence again eight minutes later when Cikalleshi bore down on goal but, rather than pull the trigger, the Albanian rolled his pass across the six yard box but a sliding Mahdi Hashemnezhad was unable to connect.
It mattered little as, in the 14th minute, Tractor scored their second. Mehdi Torabi slid the ball through for Cikalleshi to run in behind the defence before lifting a clever finish over the exposed Yevhen Hrytsenko.
Tractor were soon scoring a third through a Cikalleshi penalty, the striker converting coolly from the spot having seen Hashemnezhad, who had burst through the middle of the Ravshan defence, brought down by Hrytsenko.
Cikalleshi then completed his hat trick in the 27th minute with a clinical first-time strike following Danial Esmaeilifar’s curling cross from the right, the ball arrowing into the net from 12 yards out.
The goals continued to flow for Tractor, with Hosseinzadeh hitting the fifth two minutes into first half injury time as he found the top corner of Hrytsenko’s goal from 10 yards out.
Hashemnezhad was brought down again in the Ravshan penalty area early in the second half, this time by Nazarov, with captain Alves scoring from the spot to net Tractor’s sixth while Hosseinzadeh hit his second of the game with right-foot finish in the 69th minute.