Esteghlal beat its archrival Persepolis 1-0 in the Iran’s Professional League (IPL) in front of about 65000 fans at the Azadi Stadium. Arash Borhani’s headed the ball into the back of the net in the 43rd minute.
Persepolis kept control of the match in the second half but its strikers missed their opportunities.
“We created so many chances against Esteghlal but our players didn’t take advantage of their opportunities. However, I am proud of our performance. In my opinion, we were the better team and didn’t deserve to lose,” Persepolis coach Ali Daei said in the post match news conference.
The two teams observed a minute of silence for the victims of Japan's catastrophic earthquake and tsunami before the game began.
Esteghlal and Persepolis have played together 70 times in which Esteghlal has won 22 times, lost 17 times and 31 matches ended in a draw.
Esteghlal remains third with 52 points behind Sepahan and Zob Ahan in IPL standing table while Persepolis is fifth with 44 points.