{"id":33829,"date":"2018-10-23T09:58:56","date_gmt":"2018-10-23T16:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/?p=33829"},"modified":"2018-10-23T14:25:24","modified_gmt":"2018-10-23T21:25:24","slug":"semi-final-2nd-leg-persepolis-fc-1-1-al-sadd-sc-persepolis-wins-2-1-on-aggregate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2018\/10\/23\/semi-final-2nd-leg-persepolis-fc-1-1-al-sadd-sc-persepolis-wins-2-1-on-aggregate\/","title":{"rendered":"Semi-final &#8211; 2nd Leg: Persepolis FC 1-1 Al Sadd SC &#8211; Persepolis wins 2-1 on aggregate [VIDEO]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AFC &#8211; TEHRAN, <strong>Islamic Republic of Iran&#8217;s Persepolis created history at a jam-packed Azadi Stadium by reaching the AFC Champions League final for the first time in their history, after playing to a 1-1 draw with Al Sadd of Qatar in the second leg of their semi-final clash on Tuesday.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-sm-12 col-md-12 col-xs-12\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The result gave Persepolis a 2-1 aggregate win and a place in the Continental showpiece, where they will face either Suwon Samsung Bluewings or Kashima Antlers.<\/p>\n<p>Trailing by a goal from the first leg, it was Al Sadd who had greater impetus to score, fashioning an opportunity in the third minute.<\/p>\n<p>However, Abdelkarim Hassan&#8217;s shot at goal flew straight into the hands of Persepolis goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand.<\/p>\n<div>The momentum soon swung the other way and the hosts threatened at the Al Sadd box. In the 14th minute, Godwin Mensha headed across the goalmouth after Ahmad Nourollahi&#8217;s corner but Ali Mosleh was unable to connect.<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Then, three minutes later, Al Sadd broke the deadlock and levelled the aggregate score. The Persepolis defence were flustered by a loose pass across them, and tournament top scorer Baghdad Bounedjah <em>(pictured below)<\/em> finished off a first time shot with aplomb past the outstretched arms of Beiranvand.<\/p>\n<p>Persepolis responded with more urgency but were denied any clear-cut scoring opportunities thereafter. It took until the 39th minute for one to materialise, but Godwin Mensha&#8217;s shot was saved by Meshaal Aissa.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.the-afc.com\/img\/image\/upload\/tkttr8qroho4u7ua5rky.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The script of the game changed dramatically right after half-time break, when Persepolis scored.<\/p>\n<p>In the 49th minute, Siamak Nemati <em>(pictured below, left)<\/em> volleyed in Mensha&#8217;s cross from the left to make it 1-1 and put his side back in front on aggregate.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.the-afc.com\/img\/image\/upload\/y3xj0dion9h4on8lcfl7.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Al Sadd struggled to make inroads after Nemati&#8217;s strike, having to resort to desperate attempts. In one such instance, Pedro Miguel had a go at goal from over 35 yards out but the ball bounced wide off Beiranvand&#8217;s post.<\/p>\n<p>In the 64th minute, Aissa&#8217;s point-blank save from Alipour denied Persepolis of what could have been a deciding goal.<\/p>\n<p>Beiranvand showed his quality and kept his side in the front seat with a composed performance, which included a stunning reflex save to keep out Xavi&#8217;s header in the 86th minute.<\/p>\n<p>As the clock ticked on, Al Sadd pushed forward with all their strength but it was Persepolis who held on to clinch a famous result in front of their home fans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-23-at-9.56.05-AM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-33830 alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-23-at-9.56.05-AM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"214\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-23-at-9.56.05-AM.png 500w, https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-23-at-9.56.05-AM-150x64.png 150w, https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-23-at-9.56.05-AM-350x150.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2e-Wl2wuQmo\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2e-Wl2wuQmo<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"container-fluid story-content\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-sm-12 col-md-12 col-xs-12\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AFC &#8211; TEHRAN, Islamic Republic of Iran&#8217;s Persepolis created history at a jam-packed Azadi Stadium&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c17-asian-competitions","category-c47-featured-news"],"views":2281,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33829"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33839,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33829\/revisions\/33839"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}