Independence Stopped at Azadi Stadium

In the 25th week of the Iranian Premier League, Esteghlal was held to a draw against Zob Ahan in Azadi Stadium, losing two crucial points in their championship race. The match was attended by only two thousand spectators and ended in a 1-1 draw with two goals scored in the second half. In the 13th minute, a free kick by Kaveh Rezaei hit the crossbar, marking the most significant incident of the first half. During this half, the famous Yasouji jumper, who had invaded the pitch in the first leg hosted by Fooladshahr, jumped onto the field again, causing a brief interruption until he was arrested. He had previously written on his shirt, 'Why do I have no place in this football?' and in the return match, he wrote, 'I am the same, what was my answer?' In the 62nd minute, after a collision between Kaveh Rezaei and Omid Ebrahimi in Zob Ahan's penalty area, the referee awarded a penalty. Kaveh Rezaei, who believed there was no contact between him and Ebrahimi, stated after the match that if the penalty was valid, he would quit football. During the penalty kick, while Zob Ahan's goalkeeper had stepped forward, Omid Ebrahimi scored Esteghlal's goal with a chip shot. Zob Ahan equalized in the 75th minute with a goal from Danial Esmaeili Far, assisted by a corner from Mehdi Rajabzadeh. Esteghlal now has 42 points and is in third place, behind Naft Tehran and Tractor Sazi, while Zob Ahan remains in sixth place with 39 points. This draw benefited other teams at the top of the table. The lineup for Esteghlal included Mohsen Forouzan, Amir Hossein Sadeghi, Majid Hosseini (substituted by Mohsen Karimi in the second half and then by Arash Borhani in the 80th minute), Hashem Beikzadeh, Hrayr Makoyan, Milad Fakhradini, Omid Ebrahimi, Jassem Karar, Yaghoob Karimi (Milad Noori), Sajad Shahbazzadeh, and Reza Enayati. For Zob Ahan, Rashid Mazaheri, Hadi Mohammadi, Carlos Santos, Ali Hamam (Danial Esmaeili Far), Mehrdad Ghanbari, Ehsan Pehlavan, Ghasem Dehnoei, Ghasem Hadadi Far, Masoud Hassan Zadeh (Mehdi Mahdipoor), Kaveh Rezaei, and Morteza Tabraizi (Mehdi Rajabzadeh) played. The few Esteghlal fans who attended the stadium expressed their discontent by chanting 'We don't want ungrateful players' after the match. Yahya Golmohammadi, Zob Ahan's head coach, believed his team conceded a goal from a dubious penalty. Saeed Azari, the CEO of Zob Ahan, stated that if some of his players had thought more about the team, they could have won. He could not comment on the penalty but mentioned a suspicious refereeing incident from the previous week that they did not protest. Amir Ghalenoei also said in a press conference, 'Unfortunately, we have been ahead in 12 matches against opponents, but we either lost or drew, which is very bad. A draw was not good for either team.' In the first match of the 25th week, Naft Masjed Soleyman faced Rah Ahan at Behnam Mohammadi Stadium, where both teams settled for a 1-1 draw. Milad Mohammadi scored for Rah Ahan in the 50th minute with a long-range shot, and Hamid Bouhamdan equalized for Naft from the penalty spot in the 72nd minute. The match was officiated by Hossein Zargar, who sent off Saeed Salarzadeh from Naft with a second yellow card in the 94th minute. This draw involved the bottom teams in the table, and the winning team could have hoped for survival, which did not happen. In this match, Naft Masjed Soleyman was banned from having its fans in the stadium by the disciplinary committee; however, interestingly, some residents of Masjed Soleyman watched the game from the rooftops of nearby buildings and cheered for their team.