TEHRAN – Persepolis football team head coach Yahya Golmohammadi says that Al Hilal deserved to defeat them.

The Saudi Arabia’s giants defeated Iran champions 3-0 in Riyadh in the 2021 AFC Champions League quarterfinals Saturday night.

Salem Al-Dawsari scored in the first half and Bafetimbi Gomis made a brace in the second half.

“There is no excuse and I take responsibility for the defeat. I apologize to our fans,” Golmohammadi said in the post-match news conference.

 “Al Hilal played ahead of their fans and put us under pressure. They are a dangerous team when they attack and deserved to win the match,” he added.

“We also had chances in this match but our strikers lacked the cutting edge. I am not satisfied with the way we played.

“I don’t want to talk about our problems but we cannot sign foreign players due to financial difficulties. Persepolis are not comparable with Al Hilal and other Arabian teams since our team suffer from lack of adequate Infrastructure,” Golmohammadi said.