Esteghlal Left Stunned by Last-Gasp Persepolis Equalizer
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A last-gasp from Honduran striker Jerry Ricardo Bengtson saw Persepolis earns a 1-1 draw with Esteghlal in the Iran Professional League (IPL) on Friday.
Esteghlal’s fans were preparing for victory over Persepolis in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium but it didn’t happen.
Jaber Ansari gave the Blues a lead just three minutes into the second half. Afterward, Esteghlal decided to sit back and defend its lead.
Five minutes into injury time, Bengtson accidentally deflected a ball back into the net.
“We could have won the match but we missed the victory in the last minute. I believe that the ref should have blown sooner,” Parviz Mazloumi said in the post-match news conference.
“After we scored, Persepolis tried to reach our goal with long balls and we could have scored on the counter-attack but our midfielders didn’t send the ball to the strikers,” he added.
Esteghlal remains top of the IPL table with 22 points and Persepolis moved one place up to sixth with 15 points.
