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Zob Ahan Qualifies for AFC Champions League Group Stage

Iran’s Zob Ahan squeezed through to the 2018 AFC Champions League group stage with a 3-1 victory over Indian champions Aizawl FC at Foolad Shahr Stadium in Isfahan on Tuesday.

According to The-afc.com, the host got off to a flyer, with striker Morteza Tabrizi forcing a foul inside Aizawl’s penalty area to earn his side a spot kick inside three minutes. Mehdi Rajabzadeh made no mistakes from the spot to fire the Iranian side to an early lead.

Aizawl labored back into the match, and it was Romanian midfielder Andeir Ionescu who brought them back into the match with a sidefooted finish from inside the box in the 21st minute.

Despite the Indian side’s best efforts, Zob Ahan finally settled the tie with two Tabrizi headers in the last ten minutes. The striker converted two crosses from Seyyed Hosseini in the 83rd minute in added time to seal a difficult win for the Iranian team.

Zob Ahan joins Qatar’s Al Duhail, UAE’s Al Wahda and Uzbekistan’s Lokomotiv Tashkent in group B of the AFC Champions League.