TEHRAN – Esteghlal and Persepolis football teams emerged victorious against their opponents in the 2023/24 Iran Persian Gulf Professional League (PGPL) on Friday.

Esteghlal edged past struggling Esteghlal Khuzestan 1-0 in Ahvaz thanks to a goal from Gustavo Blanco in the 41st minute.

Esteghlal remained top of PGPL with 42 points, three points ahead of Persepolis, who came back from 2-1 down to beat Foolad 4-2 in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium earlier in the day.

Persepolis goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand scored an own goal in the 11th minute but Oston Urunov leveled the score in the 35th minute. Persepolis left back Abdelkarim Hassan scored an own goal with three minutes remaining to the halftime. Issa Alekasir was on target in the 54th minute and Hossein Kananizadegan scored the hosts’ third goal from the penalty spot in the 68th minute after Foolad player Mojtaba Najarian deliberately touched the ball to prevent entering the goal. He was shown a straight red card.

Mehdi Torabi scored a long-distance goal in the 74th minute.

In Isfahan, Sepahan lost to Paykan 3-2 and Tractor were held to a 1-1 draw by Mes in Rafsanjan.

Shams Azar also defeated Aluminum 2-1 in Qazvin.