“Derby win boosted our confidence to win the IPL title”: Branko Ivankovic

Tehran Times – TEHRAN, Persepolis head coach Branko Ivankovic believes that the 4-2 win over Esteghlal in Tehran derby has been boosted his men confidence to win this season’s Iran Professional League (IPL) title.

“I’m enjoying working with this group of players. They are fantastic both technically and mentally. We did a great job and made our fans happy which is our ultimate goal. It was an enjoyable derby however we missed a penalty just like the previous games. We had more chances to score but at the end, it was a great achievement to beat our rival with four goals,” Branko told reporters.

“This historic victory has boosted the player’s confidence to win the IPL title. We have still four matches in front of us which is like four finals, first is against Esteghlal Ahvaz who is fighting to avoid relegation. If we beat Esteghlal Ahvaz we will take a big step towards winning the title,” he added.

Persepolis, who is currently at the top with 48 points from 26 games, will take on Esteghlal Ahvaz in an away match on Friday then it will host Naft in Tehran and in the final two weeks they will take on Gostaresh Foolad in Tabriz and Rah Ahan in Tehran.