Tehran, Feb 18 (IANS) Iranian football club Naft Tehran advanced into the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League group stage for the first time after a 1-0 win over Qatari side El Jaish in the final round of play-offs here.
A wonderful header from the 21-year-old Arsalan Motahhari scored the sole goal of the match five minutes into the second half which sealed the victory for Naft at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium Tuesday, reports Xinhua.
“I’m so happy my young team came out with a victory,” said coach Alireza Mansourian, adding that “we can be West Asia’s surprise package as I believe in my players and think they can get good results in the group stage.”
“I want to congratulate Naft because they had a very good performance and they played well….They were the deserved winners in the end,” said El Jaish coach Sabri Lamouchi.
The Iranian side will face Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan champions Pakhtakor and Saudi Arabia King’s Cup holders Al Shabab in Group B. Naft Tehran will travel to Tashkent in Uzbekistan to face Pakhtakour in their Group B opener next Tuesday.