Persepolis has suffered a home defeat against Fajr Sepasi in the 25th week of Iran’s Premier League (IPL).Fresh from their victory against archrival Esteqlal in the Tehran derby last week, the Reds were forced to settle for a 3-2 loss in Tuesday’s match at the capital’s Azadi Stadium.
Fajr Sepsi Shiraz
Persepolis took the lead on the half-hour mark. Sepasi defenders intercepted a low cross from right but Mohammad Nouri was on hand to put the Reds ahead through a smashing shot from the edge of the box.
In the second half, Sepasi reversed the score after netting twice in the space of two minutes. Mehrdad Karimian rippled the back of the net from outside of the box in the 54th minute to level the game and Mehdi Rajabzadeh’s shattering volley gave Sepasi the lead two minutes later.
In the 71st minute of the match, Nouri restored parity for the Reds’ with a diving header on a neat pass from Gholamreza Rezaei who stunned Sepasi defenders with a spectacular one-man show inside the box.
Four minutes to time, Ayyoub Kalantari fired Sepasi back into lead through a long-range bullet strike to clinch the victory for the guests.
In the other match of the day, Shahin Bushehr and Shahrdari Tabriz played out to a 2-2 draw.
Esteqlal still leads the IPL standings with 47 points, followed by Sepahan with 46 points and Teraktorsazi with 43 points, both with one game in hand.
