Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tabriz: Bakhtiar Rahmani bagged a brace as Iran’s Tractorsazi Tabriz secured a comfortable 4-0 victory over Al Jazira of the United Arab Emirates in Group C of the AFC Champions League on Wednesday.
Tractorsazi got their continental campaign off to the perfect start at Yadegar Emam Stadium when Rahmani put them in front within five minutes before Shojae Khalilzadeh headed in a second on nine minutes.
The Iranians continued in the ascendancy after the interval with substitute Mehdi Sharifi adding a third nine minutes in and Rahmani netting his double as the hour-mark approached as Tractorsazi moved to the summit of the standings following Pakhtakor and Al Hilal's 2-2 draw in Wednesday's other Group C encounter.
“Our players were like true soldiers today and this win is for the ones who supported us,” said Tractorsazi coach Amir Ghalenoei.
“We were also playing well in our previous games but we were even better today. We will try to keep our current form in our upcoming matches.
“I think that we will reach what I have been expecting from the team little by little.”
Tractorsazi opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Farzad Hatami headed back Mohammad Iranpourian’s cross from the right for midfielder Rahmani to drill into the back of the net from 12 yards.
And the Iranians then doubled their advantage five minutes later when Soroush Rafiei’s corner from the left was powerfully headed home by defender Khalilzadeh from the edge of the six yard box.
But Al Jazira could have pulled one back 15 minutes in when Kenwyne Jones blazed over from just inside the area before Tractorsazi goalkeeper Mahammadreza Akhbarishad tipped over Thiago Neves’s inswinging corner shortly after.
Jones then thought he had pulled one back seven minutes after the restart only for his goal to be ruled out for offside before Sharifi’s effort down the other end soon after was cleared of the line by Yaquob Al Hosani.
But from the ensuing throw-in Khaled Shafiei’s header was blocked on the line by Salim Rashid, but after goalkeeper Ali Khaseif was down quickly to thwart Hatami on the rebound Sharifi was on hand to bundle home at the back post.
Tractorsazi then put the result beyond any doubt just before the hour when Rahmani robbed dwindling defender Fares Juma 30 yards from goal and raced through to coolly dispatch past Khaseif from the edge of the area for his second of the afternoon.
And Sharifi should have added a fifth in the dying seconds after being played through by Hatami but he chipped over under pressure from the outrushing Khaseif.
“We conceded two goals in 10 minutes which caused an impact and made it hard for us to get into the game,” said Al Jazira coach Henk ten Cate.
“We knew that after the third goal our defeat was certain. I definitely am not satisfied with the performance of any of the players.”
Photo: Lagardère Sports