Denizli

GOAL - TEHRAN, Persepolis coach Mustafa Denizli says Wednesday's 6-1 thrashing of UAE club Al Shabab in the Asian Champions League (ACL) was a "New Year's gift" for the fans.

A big crowd turned out at the Azadi Stadium on Wednesday which marked the start of the Iranian new year and the celebrations continued throughout the match as Piroozi ran riot with Eamon Zayed hitting a hat-trick as they put six past the Al Shabab defence.

Persepolis' domestic form has been far less impressive than their ACL showing as they currently sit eighth in the Persian Gulf Cup and Denizli said for that reason they owed their fans.

"First of all we were in a debt for a New Year’s gift to the Piroozi fans and the other Iranian people, so I am happy that we could carry out our promise," Denizli told reporters after the game.

"Piroozi are improving day by day. We outclassed out opponents in the first half and we could have increased our advantage then. But we took advantage after the interval and we deserved our win.

“The AFC Champions League has brought a lot of pressure on our players but we managed to score a lot of goals and we are very pleased that the result has made so many thousands of people happy.”



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