Majidi: Esteghlal Deserved to Beat Al Rayyan
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Esteghlal head coach Farhad Majidi says that they deserved victory against Qatar’s Al Rayyan in their 2020 AFC Champions League play-off match.
The former Iran national team forward saw Esteghlal score five goals against its host at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium to book a place in the group stage of the competition for the fourth consecutive year.
Majidi expressed his happiness with the “deserved victory” but admitted he hadn’t expected such a scoreline against Al Rayyan.
“I believe we deserved victory as we played with full strength and commitment,” said Majidi. “I want to thank the players for the great performance despite the difficult conditions, including fatigue.”
“Of course we didn’t expect to win against Al Rayyan with five goals in front of their fans,” he said. “Our opponents is a big team with excellent players and it was impossible for anyone to expect such a result.”
Majidi, who took charge of the team at the start of this year, said Esteghlal has great ambitions in the 2020 AFC Champions League.
“After this victory and qualifying for the group stage, we now have great ambitions,” he said. “Esteghlal is a big team and it has a unique history, including winning Asian club competitions before and therefore our ambitions are always big.”
The club will play in Group A alongside UAE’s Al Wahda, Iraq’s Al Shorta and Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia.
