In the case of successive "off-board moves", Iranian giants Persepolis still went all the way to the final of the AFC Champions League. Although the "Reds" (Persepolis) are good at fighting hard battles and have a tenacious mental willpower, compared with their opponents from East Asia, Yehya Gormuhamadi's team must face two major problems, one is the absence of the four main players, and the substitute players are difficult to fill the vacancy; the other is the temporary cancellation of two league games, and the actual combat status of Persepolis is doubtful.
Persepolis
As early as 2018, Persepolis reached the final of the AFC Champions League under the leadership of Blank Ivankovic. However, after this, meritorious manager Ivankovic signed with Saudi giants Jeddah Nationals, and many of the main players, including Torabi, Alipur and Beranwand, were transferred due to problems such as unpaid wages.
Seeing that he could not grasp the overall situation, Argentine coach Gabriel Calderon voluntarily abdicated in January this year, and Persepolis, which was forced to abandon the "foreign marshal route" due to insufficient funds, could only re-invite young marshal Yehya Gormuhamadi. As early as 2012, Gormuhamadi briefly took charge of the Persian Flag, and after training in tabriz tractors and Mashhad, he was also highly regarded in Iranian football.
Gormuhammadi discusses with the referee
In the transfer market, Persepolis could not afford to pay any transfer fees, and could only introduce free agents such as Lak, Lamezzani, Pahleva, Alekasir, Agay and Shujae through visa-free. What no one expected was that such a patchwork team that hardly relied on foreign aid (there were only two foreign players in the team, croatian goalkeeper Radosevic could not even get a chance to play), and would be able to eliminate Thaad, Tashkent cotton farmers and Riyadh and reach the AFC Champions League final.
Speaking about the upcoming AFC Champions League final, winger all-rounder Nemati showed great confidence: "Our goal is to win the AFC Champions League, no matter who our opponents are in the final, from South Korea or Japan. After the east Asian zone, we have 3 or 4 days to analyze the opponent. ”
Nematy
Compared with Nematy, the attitude of the Iranian media is relatively cautious, after all, the depth of the Persianpolis squad cannot be compared with the teams in East Asia, and it faces many difficulties.
Due to the six-month suspension, Persepolis' main striker Alikasil was unable to play, and the main left forward Pakhleva and forward Wahid Amiri were also suspended for accumulating 2 yellow cards. What is even more embarrassing to manager Gormu Hammadi is that the defensive core Khalil Zadeh left the team in October, and the center-back position faces a vacuum.
In addition, the actual combat situation in Persepolis is also very worrying. According to the rules of the schedule: the "Reds" were supposed to play two Iranian league games on December 6 and December 12, but both games were missed due to the epidemic. This means that Persepolis will take the challenge of the AFC Champions League final with a state of "20 days without playing an official match". As a result, Persepolis was clearly struggling to take advantage of the final.