Tehran – Persepolis were heavy favorites entering the biggest match in Iranian football and took the lead early on when Soroush Rafiei finished off a cross from Mohsen Mosalman but the rest of the first half turned out to be a disaster for Persepolis as Esteghlal took a 3-1 lead into the break with goals from Farshid Esmaeili in the 18th minute, Ali Ghorbani two minutes later, and Kaveh Rezaei right before the interval.
Persepolis center back Jalal Hosseini pulled one back in the 90th minute to cut the lead to 3-2 but it was too little too late. Esteghlal keeper Mehdi Rahmati received two yellow cards in the final minutes and was sent off. Prior to Hosseini’s goal, he got into a shoving match with Rahmati and was booked as well. The Persepolis players clearly were not happy with Rahmati faking injuries as a time wasting tactic. Either way, Esteghlal picked up a huge win but Rahmati will be suspended for the next match.