In the match held at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium in front of about 70,000 spectators, Esteghlal beat Al Nasr 2-1 in Group B, but still failed to qualify for the next round as the Iranian club was required to defeat its Saudi rival with two goal difference.
Bader Al-Mutwa put the visiting team ahead in the 60th minute but his goal was cancelled out by Esteghlal captain Farhad Majidi two minutes later.
The Blues put Al Nasr under pressure afterward and eventually Hawar Mulla Mohammed scored Esteghlal’s second goal with one minute remaining but it was not enough to secure a spot for the next stage.
Iran’s Isfahan-based teams Sepahan and Zob Ahan advanced to the knockout stage while Tehran-based teams Esteghlal and Persepolis failed.
On Tuesday night, Zob Ahan lost to Al Shabab of Saudi Arabia 1-0 in Isfahan’s Fooladshahr stadium in Group D of the 2011 AFC Champions League. However, the Iranian team qualified for the next round as the first team.
“Our players were exhausted since we have played about 45 games from July 2010 up to now. Zob Ahan’s players are under pressure at the moment. We lost to Al Shabab but I am satisfied with the way we played against them,” Zob Ahan coach Mansour Ebrahimzadeh said in the post-match news conference.
Elsewhere, Persepolis was defeated 2-0 by Al Wahda from the UAE in Abu Dhabi’s Al Nahyan stadium. Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia was held to a 1-1 draw against Bunyodkor of Uzbekistan in another match of Group C at the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium.
“We had so many chances in the first half but our players wasted them and Al Wahda had only two chances and took them,” Persepolis coach Ali Daei said in the news conference.