Persepolis Triumphs Over Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia in Front of 100,000 Spectators

In the continuation of the AFC Champions League from Group A, Persepolis managed to defeat Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia in front of 100,000 spectators, maintaining their position at the top of the table with 9 points. The first leg ended with a 3-0 victory for the Saudi representative, but in the return match, the Reds secured victory with a penalty goal from Mehdi Taremi. Watching this match was free for Persepolis fans. After scoring, Taremi made a gesture by running his fingers across his throat several times. Fars News Agency explained this action: "Mehdi Taremi retaliated against the goal celebration of Al Nassr players in the first leg by making a beheading gesture four times." Persepolis defender Nourmohammadi also stated after the game: "They had done this gesture after their third goal in the first leg, and the boys were looking to retaliate." The return match became controversial after the goal and from the 67th minute. During a scuffle between players from both teams on the field, Payam Sadeghian, a Persepolis player, ran onto the field from the bench, but his teammates stopped him. Sadeghian returned to the bench escorted by police and received a yellow card from the referee. In the 75th minute, a header from Al Nassr's striker hit the post, keeping Persepolis's goal intact and leaving Al Nassr with 5 points. This match was held in the presence of Branko Ivankovic, the new head coach of Persepolis, but the team was led by Hossein Abdi. The Persepolis lineup included Sosha Makani, Alireza Nourmohammadi, Mohammadreza Khanzadeh, Michael Omania, Hamidreza Ali Asghar, Mehrdad Kafshgari, Ahmad Nourollahi, Hadi Noroozi, Omid Alishah, Fernando Gabriel (Babak Hatami), and Mehdi Taremi (Ali Alipour). Special spectators of this game included Ali Karimi, Mojtaba Moharrami, Mohammad Panjali, Behrooz Rahbarifar, Ahmadreza Abedzadeh, Karim Bagheri, Olympic weightlifting champion Behdad Salimi, Olympic boxer Ehsan Rouzbehani, and discus champion Ehsan Hadadi. Besides this match, in the fourth round of the AFC Champions League, Urawa from Japan drew 1-1 with Beijing Guoan from China. In another match, Suwon Samsung from South Korea defeated Brisbane from Australia 3-1. Lokomotiv Tashkent achieved the best result, winning 5-0 against Al Sadd from Qatar. BIKAMAX from Vietnam also managed to hold Jeonbuk from South Korea to a 1-1 draw. Shandong from China and Kashiwa Reysol from Japan ended in the highest-scoring match with a 4-4 draw. Jorge Da Silva, coach of Al Nassr, stated after his team's defeat in the press conference: "You cannot call today's match football; I am experienced enough to say this. We were treated very poorly in Tehran before the match, but it was not the same when Persepolis came to Saudi Arabia. Yesterday, I said Persepolis is a good team, and I congratulate them now, but the atmosphere of this match does not resemble sports at all." Temporary head coach of Persepolis, Hossein Abdi, also said: "I am the happiest person in the world today. I have been stressed for several days. I tried to motivate the players. I dedicate this victory to the fans, the true owners of football in this country."