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I-League champions Aizawl FC tasted defeat in their first outing on the Asian stage as they were beaten 3-1 by Zob Ahan of Iran in their AFC Champions League playoff tie on Tuesday.
The Iranian side took an early lead, but Aizawl managed to grab an equaliser. Their dogged resistance was broken however towards the end as the Iranian outfit scored twice more to win comfortably.
The win means the Iranian outfit now progress into Asia's top continental club competition while Aizawl have to settle for an AFC Cup spot where they will be placed in Group E.
Here's what stood out from the game:
#1 Aizawl go down early
The Mizo side experienced first-hand the step up in class in continental football as Zob Ahan pressured them from the kick-off. Aizawl found it extremely tough to keep up with their hosts and fell behind in just the third minute of the match through a penalty when Chawnghlut Lalrosanga fouled Zob Ahan captain Morteza Tabrizi in the box.
Mehdi Rajabzadeh converted with a firmly struck right-footed shot into the bottom left corner to open the scoring and put the hosts ahead.
#2 One chance. One goal.
The early goal from Zob Ahan only spurred up Aizawl to attack all guns blazing. There was no let up from the home side, but against the run of play, Aizawl managed to snare a crucial equaliser.
Andrei Ionescu was sharp as he took the rare chance afforded to him to bring Aizawl level in the 21st minute. It was their only shot on goal in the whole game.
The chance came from a cross whipped in from the right by Renthlei Laldinliana which found Ionescu in the box. The Romanian made no mistake with his effort, putting it past the Zob Ahan keeper.
The goal at the time gave Aizawl a chance to get something from the game.
#3 Avilash Paul makes numerous saves
While they managed to go into half-time with the score at 1-1, it was a case of literally hanging on by the skin of their teeth for Aizawl.
The pressure from Zob Ahan was relentless; the Iranian side particularly exploited the lack of height in the Aizawl side by whipping in crosses with alarming regularity. Winger Syed Reza Hosseini, in particular, was posing huge problems for Aizawl down their left flank.
It was a case of throwing everything in the way with goalkeeper Avilash Paul making some very good saves to keep Zob Ahan out.
Paul will probably require a good massage after this game for he made saves with his feet, his hands, his face and even his backside on one occasion, using the entirety of his frame as his defence was opened up constantly.
They also rode their luck a bit as Zob Ahan continued to miss a lot of fairly easy chances that came their way. The biggest of the lot came in the 77th minute when Bakhtiar Rahmani, after receiving a superb flick pass from Kiros, struck the crossbar from the middle of the penalty box. It was a huge let-off for Aizawl.
#4 Aizawl pay the price for schoolboyish errors
Going purely by how dominant Zob Ahan were in this match, it looked just a matter of time before they would score again. However, Aizawl somehow managed to keep it 1-1 till the 82nd minute.
The resistance was finally broken however by Morteza Tabrizi's header in the 83rd minute. It was Syed Reza Hosseini again who provided the assist with a superb ball from the right, leaving Tabrizi with a simple header from close range.
That goal meant Aizawl had to chase the game and they left huge gaps at the back in the process. But they also were too careless in the final few minutes, giving away possession to Zob Ahan outside their own penalty area on numerous occasions.
Eventually, they were made to pay for their carelessness as the duo of Hosseini and Tabrizi combined once again in the third minute of stoppage time to make it 3-1 for the hosts and put the result beyond doubt. The entire Aizawl defence and the keeper got drawn to the ball and no one picked up Tabrizi who was left with the easiest of finishes.
#5 Tabrizi the man of the match
Zob Ahan captain Morteza Tabrizi led from the front in what was an utterly dominant display from the home side.
In total Zob Ahan had 20 shots on goal in this match, 9 of them on target. In contrast, Aizawl had just one, which they scored from.
A fair few of those attempts came from Tabrizi who was constantly popping up in the box. He was guilty of not making the most of his chances early on as he headed quite a few efforts straight at the Aizawl keeper Avilash Paul, but he made up for it in the end with his two late goals.
Aizawl had no answer to the threat posed by him along with Kiros from the left and Syed Reza Hosseini on the right. Tabrizi's movement and dominance in the air caused Aizawl all sorts of problems.
