TEHRAN - Esteghlal and Persepolis match ended in a goalless stalemate on Matchday 8 of Iran Professional League (IPL) here in an empty Azadi Stadium on Saturday.

The two football teams showed a lackluster performance in the first half and none of teams created a goal opportunity.

In the second half, Persepolis had a better start and created two goalscoring chances by Vahid Amiri lacked the cutting edge and two teams controlled the middle of the field until the end.  

Esteghlal and Persepolis have played each other 97 times with Esteghlal narrowly lead the encounters by 26 wins to 25 with 46 draws.

Earlier in the day, Gol Gohar earned a big 4-2 win over IPL leaders Sepahan in Sirjan.

Armin Sohrabian opened the scoring just two minutes into the match for Gol Gohar and Mehdi Tikdari made the scoreboard 2-0 five minutes before the interval.

Tikdari completed his brace in the 54th minute but Danial Esmaeilifar pulled a goal back two minutes later.

With Two minutes remaining, Saeid Sadeghi scored Gol Gohar’s fourth goal and Esmaeilifar scored a consolation goal in the injury time.

Havadar and Naft Masjed Soleyman played out a goalless draw in Tehran.

Sanat Naft and Paykan also shared the spoils in a goalless draw.

On Sunday, Nassaji will host Padideh in Sari, Zob Ahan play Mes in Isfahan, Fajr Sepasi face Foolad in Shiraz and Tractor meet Aluminum in Tabriz.

Gol Gohar moved up top with 16 points due to superior goal difference than Sepahan.

Persepolis and Esteghlal are third and fourth with 15 and 14 points, respectively.