Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tehran: Naft Tehran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand and ill-fortune were the only reasons Al Ain did not take all three points from their visit to the Azadi Stadium insisted coach Zlatko Dalic after his side shared a 1-1 draw in their AFC Champions League Matchday Two encounter with the Iran Pro League side on Tuesday.
Beiranvand produced a number of stunning saves in the first period to deny last year’s top scorer Asamoah Gyan and his side would go ahead in the second half through substitute Siamak Kooroshi only to see Ghanaian forward Gyan then level from the spot to ensure a share of the points.
The result means that both sides are still awaiting a first maximum in the 2015 edition of the continental competition, although Dalic conceded he was content to take away a point from their visit to Tehran.
Match report: Naft Tehran 1-1 Al Ain
“I’m satisfied with the result, however this match had two different periods. In the first half we played well but the Naft keeper was a hero, we could have scored four or five goals and they were lucky. In the second half we could also have scored but we wasted our chances and we lost our focus and Naft scored from a setpiece,” said Al Ain coach Dalic, who was able to once again select star playmaker Omar Abdulrahman in his squad, although the player was only fit enough to make the bench as he continues his recovery from an injury.
“Fortunately, we levelled the score a few minutes later although they did have some opportunities in the second half.
“Omar Abdulrahman was injured and he didn’t train with us during the last seven days. He is our best player and I hope he could return to his best.”
Opposite number Alireza Mansourian praised the high standard of the football on show in Asia’s premier club tournament and was content with the display from his Naft players.
“This was world class football with a lot of chances on both ends. Al Ain had more chances in the first half but in the second they played more defensively while they were lucky not to concede more goals,” said Naft coach Mansourian, whose tournament debutants are still seeking their maiden win in the AFC Champions League after losing 2-1 to Pakhtakor in their opener last week in Tashkent.
“We played very well in the second half and my players did exactly what I told them. We don’t have goal scoring problems as you saw we made a lot of chances. At the end we saw a high quality football match.
“There is a huge difference between Iran League matches and AFC Champions League matches. In Iran League from every seven chances maybe one will convert to goal but in Asia it is completely different, for example we gave Pakhtakor three chances and they scored twice.
“When the best teams of every country participate in the AFC Champions League it is normal that you see a high quality tournament.”
Photo: WSG