Despite Sardar Azmoun giving them a fourth minute lead, Iran was overrun by Qatar, with strikes from Jassem Gaber and Akram Afif putting the defending champion ahead. Alireza Jahanbakhsh restored parity from the penalty spot but Almoez Ali snatched victory for the host with his 82nd minute goal.
“I want to apologize to the Iranian people. We should have advanced into the final but we could not do it. I want to thank the players, they put everything they had into this match,” said Ghalenoei, with the defeat meaning Iran’s wait for a fourth continental continues.
“We lost plenty of opportunities throughout the match but our performance in the second half was one of our best. We had eight corners in the second half. But this is football. When you don’t get anything from your chances, you are going to be punished and this happened to us,” he added.