Winning Start For Esteghlal in AFC Champions League

Persianleague
- Oct 09, 2002
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AFC - Iran giants Esteghlal made a successful start to their AFC Champions League campaign with a 2-0 defeat of Jordan's Al Faisaly in the first leg of Qualifying Round 3 (Zone 1) at the Takhti Stadium in Tehran on Wednesday.

After a goalless first half, Mehdi Pashazadeh gave the two-time Asian Club Champions the lead in the 53rd minute.

It looked as though Esteghlal would be taking only a slender one-goal advantage to the Amman International Stadium where the two sides meet for the return fixture on October 25, until Faraz Fatemi grabbed Esteghlal’s second right at the final whistle.

The winners of the Esteghlal-Faisaly match will contest a place in the lucrative Group Stage of the US$3 million competition with either Neftchi or Al Ahli Sana’a of Yemen.

Neftchi are favourites to advance to the fourth round after captain Sergey Ni struck twice in the Central Asians’ 2-1 away win. The 2001 Uzbekistan champions entertain Ahli in the second leg on October 23 in Fergana.

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