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GOAL - Persepolis coach Afshin Ghotbi believes
that the Iranian league leaders should have won the Tehran Derby on Sunday
against fierce rivals Esteghlal.
The game finished 1-1 with Persepolis coming back from a goal down to earn a
point with the league leaders below their usual best.
In the press conference after the game, Ghotbi told reporters: "My players
showed a lot of effort and because of that I am happy with their work."
"In games where the outcome is very important, it is natural for teams to
play below their normal levels, and instead of using various tactics, the
teams look for their opponents to make a mistake. Unfortunately, we
committed the first mistake which led to us conceding the first goal."
“After conceding the first goal, we put in a lot of effort to get the
equalizer and consequently created many chances and more chances than
Esteghlal. However, we were only able to put the ball into the opponent's
net once."
Persepolis have taken 21 points from the first nine games and are five
points clear at the top of the table.
"We came to win. However, when you play in front 100,000 spectators, your
job becomes very difficult."
The former South Korean assistant coach added: "We were better than
Esteghlal and we could have left this game as victors, and that is why we
are not happy with the result. We promised that we would beat Esteghlal, but
we could not fulfill our promise. For this reason, I would like to apologize
to our fans."
Ghotbi said: "All over the world, derbies are like this and you usually do
not see attractive football. Nonetheless, we tried to play in an organized
and tactical way. After Esteghlal's goal, we reacted well to the issues that
arose during the match, and we were succesful in getting the equalizer."
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