Sepahan – Esteghlal ACL Preview
GOAL – ESFAHAN, The newly-crowned Iranian champions play host to the Tehran giants in a last 16 clash which has captured the imagination of the public in the West Asian nation. Sepahan clinched top spot in Group C last week with a 2-1 victory over Al Ahli with central defender Mohsen Bengar getting forward and popping up a late winner, having previously secured their qualification for the final 16. Coach Zlatko Kranjcar has little need to change the line-up of the Iranian champions although Hadi Jafari went off in the first-half against Al Ahli and is a doubt for this match. Brazilian Bruno Cesar and Xhevahir Sukaj have proved a handful for defences in this season’s ACL and they’ll be paired up front.Esteghlal will welcome back a host of key players who miss their 2-0 win over Nasaf Qarshi due to suspension including Andranik Teymourian, Ali Hamoodi and Hanif Omranzadeh. however they will be without veteran full-back Mehdi Amirabadi after he was sent off against the Uzbek side. Teymourian should slot straight back into the midfield line-up, which will be led by Mojtaba Jabbari who scored from the spot against Nasaf.Probable Lineups:Sepahan: Ahmadi – Jafari, Hosseini, Bengar, Ashjari – Ebrahimi, Karimian, Januario, Navidkia – Sukaj, Bruno CesarEsteghlal: Rahmati – Heydari, Montazeri, Omranzadeh, Hosseini – Zandi, Teymourian, Jabbari, Samuel- Borhani, Jerkovic
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