ACL – Foolad were dealt a confidence denting
4-1 defeat by Iran league pacesetters Esteghlal on Thursday ahead of the AFC
Champions League Group C leaders gear up for next week’s ACL Matchday clash
with two-time semi-finalists Pakhtakor.
A league meeting with top-of-the-table Esteghlal would certainly have
provided Foolad with the ideal preparation for the tough trip to Tashkent
but head coach Nenad Nikolic would not have been expecting the Round 28
match to go so wrongly for the reigning Iran champions, who finished the
game with nine men.
Midfielder Mohsen Hamidi was the first Foolad player to see red when he
received his marching orders on the half-hour mark before Reza Enayati made
Esteghlal’s numerical advantage count on the stroke of half-time.
Despite being a man down, Foolad hit back quickly with 19-year-old
midfielder Adel Kolahkaj drawing the Khuzestan side level three minutes
after the interval.
However, parity lasted until the 57th minute when Hossein Kazemi restored
Esteghlal’s lead before Enayati made it 3-1 with his second of the night ten
minutes later.
Foolad were reduced to nine men when forward Lafteh Hamidi was sent off
seven minutes from the final whistle giving Enayati enough time to complete
his hat-trick right at the death.
Meanwhile Pas, quarter-finalists in last year’s AFC Champions League, kept
the pressure on Esteghlal with a 3-1 away win over Bargh in Shiraz.
Iran’s other representatives in this year’s ACL Saba Battery host Zob Ahan
on Saturday, having played on Wednesday in their Hazfi Cup quarter-final win
over Sepahan Novin.
