TEHRAN – Persepolis suffered a 3-0 loss against Al Hilal in the 2021 AFC Champions League quarters and fell far short of expectations.

Persepolis’ performance against Al Hilal was not satisfactory regarding the team’s potential and as their coach said they deserved to lose.

Persepolis’ style is usually pushing the opponents back with high pressing but in the match against Al Hilal, the Reds preferred to defend in their own half and dominant Al Hilal maintained possession of the ball as a result.

There were some tactical mistakes which allowed the hosts to put Persepolis under overwhelming pressure.  

Vahid Amiri is one of Persepolis’ key players but he was very exhausted since the player was playing his third matches in nine days. Amiri played as left defender and midfielder in the matches against the UAE and Korea Republic in 2022 World Cup qualification but he was used as a forward in the match against Al Hilal.

In my opinion, he didn’t meet the expectations because the change of playing place can cause confusion for every player.

Furthermore, iconic attacking midfielder Mehdi Torabi, who was supposed to shine in this match, was completely disarmed by Al Hilal midfielders and defenders. They had neutralized Torabi's threat in the left flank.

Finally, I believe that Persepolis were derailed by their own mistakes. No matter what result is, the matter is they fell far short of expectations. They could have played more satisfactory at least regarding their strengths in the midfield and defensive lines. The gap between the two areas let Al Hilal to make goalscoring chances for their forwards on and on.

Persepolis have to learn lessons from their awful display.

And life goes on.