Overview
Esteghlal just lost in the Tehran derby against Persepolis with a score of 1-2. This result has caused coach Miodrag Bozovic's team to continue to be in the bottom half of the rankings, a worse performance than they were last season.
Esteghlal's biggest problem this season has been his lack of sharp attack. They have only scored 18 goals after 21 rounds of domestic matches, an average of less than 1 goal/match. Esteghlal has also scored just eight goals in the AFC Champions League this season. Therefore, it is not surprising that they are rated lower than Al Nassr.
Compared to Esteghlal, Al Nassr's attack is much superior. The Al-Awwal Park team has scored nearly double the goals of the Iranian representative in this year's AFC Champions League (17 goals), and has scored 48 goals after 23 rounds in the Saudi Pro League.
The defeat to Al Orobah has almost put an end to Al Nassr's hopes of competing for the Saudi Pro League championship. With the early elimination in the King's Cup, Al Nassr only has 2 goals left, including keeping the top 3 Saudi Pro League and going deep in the AFC Champions League arena.
Although Cristiano Ronaldo did not travel to Iran with his teammates for many different reasons, coach Stefano Pioli still has other bright stars such as Sadio Mane, Angelo, Brozovic and Jhon Duran. Not only attacking well, Al Nassr is also a good defensive team with only 6 goals conceded in the 2024-2025 AFC Champions League.
In addition, Al Nassr also has the advantage in the head-to-head against Esteghlal. In the last 3 meetings between the two sides, the home team at Al-Awwal Park won twice, most recently in the League Phase this year.
Aymeric Laporte scored the only goal in that match. Not to mention, Esteghlal also lost 2 and drew 1 in 3 encounters with Saudi Arabia in the AFC Champions League this season.
Expected lineup:
Esteghlal: Hosseini, Rezaeian, hardani, Cheshmi, Raphael, Sohrabian, Juma, Ndong, Rezavand, Ahmadi, Azadi.
Al Nassr: Bento, Al Najdi, Simakan, Al Fatil, Qasheesh, Angelo, Brozovic, Al Sulaiheem, Otavio, Mane, Duran.
The match between Esteghlal and Al Nassr takes place at 23:00 on March 3 (Vietnam time).
