Match Report
12 points and 9 places separated them: Esteghlal 1st with 41, Malavan 10th with 29. Malavan ranked 6th in the league on five-round form, well above their 10th table position. Against a league average of 0.91 goals per team per game, Esteghlal ran at 1.32 scored and 0.73 conceded, Malavan at 0.59 and 0.95.
Defeat had not touched Esteghlal in 10 games.
5 meetings are on record — 2 won by Esteghlal, 0 by Malavan, 3 drawn, at 1.6 goals per meeting. Hosting has counted for little in this fixture — the home side has won only 40% of those meetings. The fixture trends low-scoring: over two goals in just 20% of the meetings.
The match was played at Azadi Stadium (capacity 100,000). Half-time and full-time told different stories: Esteghlal led 1-0 at the break, before 1 more goal closed it at 1-1.
Goal scorers
Esteghlal: Rustam Ashurmatov (32') · Malavan: Mohammad Alinejad Hosseinabad (62')
Key stats
Possession: Esteghlal 54% · Malavan 46% · Total shots: 8-2 · On target: 4-1 · Corners: 8-2