Abu Dhabi: Iran’s Persepolis defeated Al Jazira 2-1 (4-4 aggregate) in a thriller to enter the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League on away goals at the Azadi Stadium on Monday.
Persepolis needed to overhaul a 3-2 first leg deficit against Al Jazira going into the contest. Needing a draw the qualify, Al Jazira for 62 minutes choose to play the waiting game and soaked up all the pressure from the hosts to keep a clean sheet.
However, in the end, the defensive tactics allowed Persepolis to get the crucial breakthrough. Ahmad Nourollahi’s thunderbolt from way outside the box settled into the top left corner of the goal.
That setback was enough to awaken Henk Ten Cate and his wards. Needing to score to keep their hopes alive in the tournament, Ten Cate brought in Ahmad Al Attas in place of Mohammad Fawzi and that ploy immediately worked.
On Al Attas’ first touch, Brazilian Romarinho found enough space to send in a grounder, which settled into the bottom left corner. With a 4-3 aggregate the pressure was now back on the hosts to score.
They conducted a series of raids but Jazira goalkeeper Ali Khaseif simply rose to the challenge to keep them at bay.
Twice attempts from Godwin Mensha was well kept out from the goalline by Khaseif. He also tipped over a goalbound header from Ali Mosleh from the centre of the box to keep Jazira in the game.
Two minutes from time, the hosts, backed by a packed stadium filled with extremely vocal supporters, got the breakthrough. Seyed Jalal Hosseini’s right-footer from the centre of the box settling into the bottom left corner following a weak clearance from Musallem Fayez.
Searching for the equaliser that could have saw the UAE club through, Ali Mabkhout then curled in a brilliant ball in the injury time but it just managed to brush the fingertips of Persepolis goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand before going wide.
