Persepolis Finishes 1397 Year at the Top of the Table

The Iranian Premier League ended in 1397 with Persepolis finishing at the top of the table. Esteghlal and Tractor also managed to end the year with victories. Branko Ivankovic's team scored three goals against Sepidrood in the first half to secure their position at the top. Esteghlal is in second place, Tractor is third, and Sepahan is fourth with one game less. The first goal was scored by Ali Alipour, who, along with Anthony Stokes, reached eleven goals. The top scorer position belongs to Stanley from Sepahan with twelve goals. The second goal was scored by Noorollahi, assisted by Khalilzadeh's header. Siamak Nemati scored the third goal, netting a pass from Torabi, ensuring Persepolis's three points in the first half. In the second half, Mehrdad Bayrami scored one goal for the hosts. Sepidrood, with their thirteenth loss, holds the record for the most defeats in this season's Premier League. The Persepolis lineup included Bozhidar Radunovic, Seyed Jalal Hosseini, Shoja Khalilzadeh, Mohammad Nadari, Mehdi Shiri, Kamal Kamyabinia, Ahmad Noorollahi, Bashar Resan (Soroush Rafiei), Mehdi Torabi (Omid Alishah), Siamak Nemati, and Ali Alipour (Saeed Karimi). Ivankovic commented on the match and the derby on the 10th of Farvardin, saying, 'It was important to hold the derby while being at the top of the table. We are looking forward to a great football display. I regret that we did not continue our initial momentum in the second half, which may have been due to fatigue.' In Qaemshahr, Esteghlal Tehran continued their good form over the past eleven weeks, defeating their host, Nassaji Mazandaran, by one goal. During this period, they only lost to Tractor in Tabriz. A penalty kick by Morteza Tabatabai against Nassaji allowed Esteghlal and Tractor to be level on points, but the blue team is in second place due to a better goal difference. The Esteghlal lineup included Hossein Hosseini, Mohammad Daneshgar, Roozbeh Cheshmi, Pejman Montazeri, Milad Zakipour, Ali Karimi, Farshid Bagheri, Patosi, Mohsen Karimi (Hamam Tareq), Isma (Dariush Shajarian), and Morteza Tabatabai. Winfried Schaefer stated after the match, 'It was very important to win today. We need to prepare ourselves for the derby. First, we need to analyze the opponent. We want to make our fans happy.' In another important match of week twenty-two, Tractor managed to defeat Padideh by one goal in front of their numerous home fans. Padideh, who had also experienced being at the top this season, has not been able to maintain their successful run in the second half of the season.