Ferreira: The first leg result made things difficult for us

Al-Sadd head coach Jesualdo Ferreira praised his players for their performance in the 1-1 draw with Persepolis in the second leg of their AFC Champions League semifinal tie, which saw the Wolves exit the tournament.

Speaking after the match, Ferreira said: “We played well in both legs but did not make good use of chances. In the first leg, we conceded a weird penalty which lead to our defeat and the exit from this tournament. This is football.

He added: “The first leg result made things difficult for us. We played to win and gave 90 minutes of offensive football, trying to win the game in any manner but we were unable to. Persepolis had a fantastic game and most of their players did well, especially the goalkeeper. Congratulations to them on the win and the qualification for the final.”

“We wasted many chances at home and also at the Azadi and we weren’t able to score more than one goal. But to be honest, the footballing atmosphere that we see in Iran is great. We love it, as coaches and players because this is the real atmoshpere of football.”

Asked to compare Qatari and Iranian football, Ferreira said that it wouldn’t be fair because there are different factors in place. “We have to consider the fact that Iran has a huge population and has a bigger pool of players, unlike Qatar where the residents are fewer in number and as a result, have lesser players.”

Finally, Ferreira said: “What the goalkeeeper Alireza Beiranvand did was fantastic. He was the difference against us. He is truly a great goalkeeper; he fought and denied our attack. There may have been other good players in the Persepolis team but the one who made the result possible was Beiranvand.”