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Tehran, May 6, IRNA -- The eagerly-awaited blue-red derby reached its
climax as Esteqlal was held by struggling Foulad in the 21st week of Iran Pro League Sunday.
Playing in an empty Azadi Stadium, the two sides fought to a goalless tie. Deprived of right winger Mohammad Navazi and left national
midfielder Alireza Nikbakht-Vahedi, leader Esteqlal missed the best opportunity for widening its gap with archrival Pirouzi as the
southern side, Foulad of Khuzestan, having veteran Naeim Sa'davi on the bench played a smooth football and extracted one point.
In the 18th minute, Foulad striker Behnam Seraj sent a Davoud Dehqani cross above blues' woodwork.
Iman Mob'ali unleashed a powerful shot eight minutes later from outside the area, forcing Esteqlal keeper Hadi Tabatabaei to send it
out with a spectacular dive.
Esteqlal also made blitz by Yadollah Akbari, Sirous Dinmohammadi and fast-paced Alireza
Akbarpour, who were denied by Foulad's densely-populated defense line and national goalie Ebrahim
Mirzapour.
Blues' striker Faraz Fatemi and left-footed midfielder Dinmohammadi fired two shots in the 55th and 64th minutes, passing
above the crossbar.
Nine minutes from the time, Farzad Majidi's drive hit Foulad defenders and went out.
Once again, Mob'ali was denied by diving Tabatabaei who sent out his fizzing kick two minutes later.
Foulad came near to scoring in the 88th minute but Seraj's header was bounced by the crossbar and the match ended in a nil-nil draw.
Winning 40 points, Esteqlal of Tehran leads the table followed by the second-placed Pirouzi with 38 points.
In the 22nd week of Iran Pro League, Esteqlal and Pirouzi play Thursday on the pitch of Azadi Stadium.
Esteghlal: Hadi Tabatabaei, Sohrab
Bakhtiarzadeh, Mehdi Pashazadeh, Mohammad Khoramgah, Farzad Majidi, Davod
Seyed Abassi, Sirous Dinmohamadi, Yadollah Akbari(Rafat Gholiof ), Mahmood
Fekri, Ali Reza Akbarpour, Faraz Fatemi.
Foolad: Ebrahim Mirzapour, Jalal
Kamelifard, Yahya Golmohamadi, Hossein Kaabi, Hossein Jenami(Ali Akbar
Mehdipoor), Omid Sharifinassab(Meysan Soleimani ), Iman Mobali, Ali
Badavi, Davood Dehghani (Ehsan Shirmardi), Hassan Mazaheri, Behnam Seraj.
In other 21st-week matches:
Tractor Sazi of Tabriz was beaten by the Tehrani side Paykan 2-1 and the
Isfahan-based Zob Ahan crushed
Fajr-e Sepassi of Shiraz 2-0.
The two bottom-placed sides, Saipa and Esteqlal of Rasht, leveled 0-0 and the clash of Barq of Shiraz and
Foulad-e Sepahan of Isfahan ended in a goalless tie as Malavan of Bandar Anzali and the Mashhadi
team of Abu Moslem shared the point after a 1-1 draw.
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