Countless corners, throw-ins and free-kicks came and went but the yellow wall held firm and looked comfortable. As the end approached, the 110,000 fans inside the Azadi Stadium were faced with the fact that their entire season was going to end in frustration.
It started so well on a clear day in Tehran. There are few better sights in Asian football then a full Azadi with the Alborz Mountains in the background and at kick-off few doubted that Persepolis would get the win they desperately craved.
Only a win would do. The Reds started the day, the final day of the Iranian season, two points behind their visitors and needed three poins for the title. A draw would see Sepahan crowned champions.
Persepolis started well. Mohsen Khalili opened the scoring after 17 minutes and hit the bar four minutes later. Then, after 28 minutes, the stadium was silenced for the first time that afternoon – except for a small pocket of Sepahan fans up on the second tier – as the visitors scored. It was the coolest of finishes from teenage prospect Ehsan Hajsafi.
Try as Persepolis might, they couldn’t break down the Sepahan defence until the 96th minute of the final game of the season. It wasn’t the best of headers from Sepehr Heidari but it somehow found its way into the top corner of the net.
The scenes of celebration were incredible. In recent years, rarely has the Azadi been so excited and yesterday was a reminder of the effect that this famous Asian arena can still have.
It was right that one team won the game. A draw would have been an unsatisfactory result yesterday; one team had to emerge victorious to make the effects of points deductions irrelevant. If Sepahan had won in Tehran, the Isfahan team would have collected two more points than Persepolis over the season even with punishments taken into account.
A draw would have given Sepahan the trophy but would have left the fate of the league in the hands of lawyers as Persepolis appealed their six-point deduction imposed by FIFA.
It may have been a clean win but it was a cruel ending for a Sepahan team that has been consistent all season, even as it handled two Asian Champions League campaigns that sandwiched an extended visit to Japan for the Club World Cup last December.
As far as Persepolis were concerned however, it was an incredible end to a real roller-coaster of a season. It is fitting that Persepolis are champions of Iran. The team have broken records for wins and goals scored. The Reds went through a serious wobble just a few weeks ago and the days of coach Afshin Ghotbi looked to be numbered. But despite the stories, the reports and the rumours of what was going on behind the scenes at the club, Ghotbi will wake up Sunday morning as the toast of Iranian football –the red half anyway.
That is a pretty big half. Over 100 ecstatic fans had left comments on the Goal.com match report in just a few hours after the final whistle. These followers from Tehran, Iran and all over the world make Persepolis one of the biggest clubs there is. Managing Persepolis is not for the faint-hearted, the club has a life and behaviour all of its own and it goes through coaches at a rapid rate.
Already, talk is of whether Ghotbi will stay with the club after an exhausting season on and off the pitch. But for this weekend at least, now is the time to enjoy the victory.
They rarely come as sweetly and dramatically as this.
John Duerden
Asia Editor
