Heavy Defeat for Esteghlal in AFC Champions League

The Esteghlal football team was eliminated from the AFC Champions League after suffering a heavy defeat of six to one against Al Ain of the UAE. The first leg of the match had ended with a one-nil victory for Esteghlal, but in the return leg, Al Ain delivered a superior performance to advance to the quarter-finals. Esteghlal, missing several key players, was subjected to heavy attacks from Al Ain and its stars from the start, particularly Omar Abdulrahman, the Asian Player of the Year, who was named the best player of the match. Previously, a five-nil defeat of Shahin Ahvaz against Al-Rasheed of Iraq was considered the heaviest loss for Iranian representatives in Asian club competitions. While the brilliance of Rahmati and a hit on the post had prevented Esteghlal from conceding earlier, the team's resistance lasted only 27 minutes before a shot from Caio Lucas Fernandes put the hosts ahead. Six minutes later, this Brazilian player scored Al Ain's second goal due to a mistake by Ghafouri. The first half ended with this score. In the second half, a mistake by Paduvani allowed Omar Abdulrahman to score the third goal. Then, Lee Myung-jo, the South Korean player of Al Ain, also found the net, putting his team four-nil ahead. A shot from Omar Abdulrahman in the sixtieth minute led to the fifth goal for the hosts. Nasser Al-Shamrani, a Saudi player of Al Ain, scored the sixth goal for his team. Al Ain players repeatedly found themselves in one-on-one situations with Esteghlal's goalkeeper throughout the match. The last goal of the match was scored by the Iranian representative; in the 83rd minute, Kaveh Rezaei scored from a free kick to reduce the deficit. The Esteghlal lineup included Mehdi Rahmati, Leandro Paduvani, Robson Janoario, Milad Zakipour, Voria Ghafouri (Mojtaba Haqdoust), Farshid Bagheri (Jaber Ansari), Majid Hosseini, Hrayr Mkhoyan, Ali Ghorbani (Mohsen Karimi), Khosrow Heydari, and Kaveh Rezaei. Alireza Mansourian stated in the press conference: 'We faced Al Ain under the worst conditions, and I wish we had at least two of the four missing midfielders. On behalf of all the players, I apologize to the fans. Our performance was very poor.' The Esteghlal coach further said, 'Our effort is to strengthen the team next year by adding a few international players. Omar Abdulrahman is a blessing for Al Ain, and it is hard to take care of him.' The result of this match received widespread attention on social media and was sometimes influenced by the presidential elections. Farshad Mahdipoor, the editor-in-chief of Sobhe No newspaper, wrote on his Twitter account: 'This is the same team that supported Rouhani.' Mr. Mahdipoor's comment, who introduced himself as having a PhD in cultural policy-making, faced widespread criticism from football enthusiasts. Qalehki, the political secretary of Afkar newspaper, also mentioned Alireza Mansourian on Twitter, stating that those who frequently interacted with Rouhani's government are inclined to unilaterally retreat with foreigners. Telegram channels like Fars News and Rajanews also published sarcastic posts regarding the support of the Esteghlal coach and players for Hassan Rouhani. Today, within the framework of the same competitions, Persepolis is set to face Lekhwiya in Qatar. The first leg of the two teams ended in a goalless draw.