Persepolis Football Team Defeats Sepahan in Isfahan After 13 Years

In the seventh week of the Iranian Premier League, Persepolis defeated Sepahan Isfahan 3-1 at Fooladshahr Stadium. Persepolis had not won in their last twelve matches held at Sepahan's home but finally broke the spell and secured three crucial points to maintain second place in the standings. Tractor Sazi Tabriz leads with 15 points and a better goal difference. Persepolis is second with the same points, while Naft Tehran occupies the third position. The match began with Omid Alishah scoring for Persepolis, followed by Ehsan Haj Safi equalizing with a long-range shot, ending the first half at 1-1. In the second half, Morteza Taremi's positioning and awareness led to two goals from him, resulting in a home defeat for Sepahan. The last victory of the red-clad team in Isfahan against Sepahan in the Premier League was on November 17, 2003, when Persepolis won 2-1 with goals from Pejman Jamshidi and Afshin Peyrovani. Today's Persepolis lineup included Alireza Beiranvand, Mohsen Rabiei Khah, Seyed Jalal Hosseini, Mohammad Ansari, Hossein Mahini, Mohsen Muslim, Ahmad Nourallahi, Vahid Amiri (Ehsan Alavanzadeh), Ali Alipour (Primov), Omid Alishah (Sadegh Moharrami), and Morteza Taremi. Sepahan's lineup featured Oliveira, Moussa Koulibaly, Shoja Khalilzadeh, Armin Sohrabi, Ali Helichi, Milad Sarlak, Rasoul Navidkia, Ehsan Haj Safi, Mehrdad Mohammadi (Farid Behzadi Karimi), Reza Mirzaei (Moharram Navidkia), and Pedro Henrique (Jalal Alimohammadi). After the match, coach Branko Ivankovic stated: 'From a football perspective, this was the best match. Both teams gave their all, and Iran enjoyed this game. I can confidently say it was at the level of European matches, and I am happy we defeated Sepahan in Isfahan after 13 years.' Regarding the previous match against Esteghlal, he said: 'I disagree that we were weak against Esteghlal. Derbies around the world often lack quality because players need high concentration.' In other matches, Gostaresh in Tabriz drew 0-0 against Foolad Khuzestan, remaining winless at the bottom of the table. Padideh Mashhad, after trailing 3-1 and missing a penalty in the 89th minute, managed to equalize 3-3 against Naft Abadan in the final moments of the game, creating a dream day. Naft Tehran won 2-1 against Machine Sazi Tabriz with two goals from Amir Arslan Motahari and Mohammad Ghazi, climbing to third place in the standings. Naft Tehran's coach expressed dissatisfaction with the referee's performance despite the victory, stating: 'If the referee's decision not to award a penalty is correct, he should leave football.' Ali Daei remarked: 'Nasrati handled the ball, which should have been a penalty and a red card. The opposing center-back should have been sent off as well. Machine Sazi aimed for direct play to score.' The former Persepolis and national team coach noted: 'The match observer asked me what the referee should do. I told him the referee should make fair judgments to sleep peacefully at night.' At the end of the match, Rasoul Khatibi, the coach of Machine Sazi, also had a verbal altercation with a doping test official, stating that the individual entered the locker room without permission while he intended to speak with his players.