Esteghlal Escapes Defeat Against Lokomotiv Uzbekistan with Kaveh Rezaei's Goal

Esteghlal Tehran drew 1-1 against Lokomotiv Tashkent in the fourth round of the AFC Champions League at Lokomotiv Stadium in Uzbekistan. The Iranian team maintained its top position in Group A with this draw. Even in the event of a loss, Esteghlal could have retained its lead depending on a potential draw between Al-Taawoun of Saudi Arabia and Al-Ahli of the UAE. Lokomotiv took the lead in the first half with a beautiful pass from Jaloliddin Masharipov and a goal from Marat Bikmaev. Esteghlal struggled hard to avoid defeat and finally, in the 86th minute, Kaveh Rezaei managed to save his team from loss. This goal allowed the blues to maintain a relative safety margin at the top of the group table. In the 94th minute, Kaveh Rezaei could have secured all three points for his team, but his beautifully taken free kick from a tight angle hit the post and did not find the net. The Esteghlal lineup included Mehdi Rahmati, Robson, Padovani, Voria Ghafouri (Khosrow Heydari), Milad Zakipour, Farshid Bagheri, Omid Ebrahimi, Farshid Esmaeili, Mohsen Karimi (Jaber Ansari), Ali Ghorbani (Behnam Barzayi), and Kaveh Rezaei. Esteghlal also recently drew 1-1 against Gostaresh Tabriz in the Iranian Premier League after a previous 1-0 loss. In their last 14 matches in the Premier League and AFC Champions League, they have only suffered one defeat against Al-Ahli in the UAE. Esteghlal's next match will be in Tehran against Al-Ahli. Alireza Mansourian, the head coach, stated after the match that Lokomotiv played strongly in the first 30 minutes, but they were the better team in the second half and could have scored the winning goal, which hit the post. He expressed satisfaction with the result. The coach reminded that all teams have a chance to advance, and the competition for qualification will continue until the last week. The head coach of Lokomotiv Uzbekistan also mentioned in the press conference, 'We just fell short by three minutes. The actions we took to maintain the result were not adequate, and we lacked sufficient focus. I apologize, and we will strive for victory in the future.' Thus, in the fourth round of the group stage of the AFC Champions League, Iranian representatives have yet to achieve a victory. Persepolis drew 0-0 against Al-Rayyan of Qatar. Esteghlal Khuzestan lost to their host Lekhwiya (Qatar), and Esteghlal Tehran's match against Lokomotiv Tashkent ended in a draw. Zob Ahan Isfahan is the last Iranian team to compete and will face Bunyodkor of Uzbekistan in Fooladshahr. Zob Ahan managed to defeat Bunyodkor in the first leg. This was Zob Ahan's only victory in this season's Champions League, and now they need all three points from the home game against the Uzbek representative to improve their standings in the table.