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Persianleague
- May 24, 2002
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By: Majeed Panahi

PLDC - Perspolis excelled in defeating Saipa on Thursday in Azadi stadium in front of 15,000 fans to exert pressure on Esteghlal Tehran for the Championship crown.
Perspolis started the match with determination and managed to confine the game in the opposition half. Their control of the game was evident and the threat started with Kavianpour's Stunning shot which hit the upright and deflected back.
By the thirtieth minute Perspolis were already leading after Ansarian scored a penalty for handball against Paykan defender.
Two minutes later Amir Hussain Aslanian score one of the best league goals so far, when he got the ball on the right flank superbly dribbled two Saipa player and with a swift move shot a thunderous ball from an angle in the roof on Saipa's net.
Perspolis were threatening to run riot, until Javad Kazemiyan , the Young National Team player from Saipa, scored the first goal of his team with some ease at minute 37 to damp the Red-Devils enthusiasm.. 
The first half ended 2-1, and by the start of the second, Saipa were more motivated & had more of the ball. In a counter attack, Mohammed Soltani scored another marvelous goal for Saipa to eclipse Aslanian stunner of the first half. Soltani got the ball from a deflection off Perspolis players just outside the penalty box. He cracked a powerful shot out of Karimi's reach, high into the net. 
Perspolis 2 Saipa 2
Perspolis players and fans were stunned by the loss of the two goal lead.
However, seeing the loss of the championship in front of their eyes motivated the Perspolis players into action and it all paid off when Ali Ansarian header was deflected by Saipa defender into an own goal. Shortly after that Aslanian sealed the match with a neat low header to make it 4-2 for Perspolis. 
is was a real delight to watch the fighting spirit of Perspolis team. With this win against Saipa, the pressure was on Esteghlal.
Aslanian's the scorer of two of Perspolis goals was the star of the match. The young man has not been part of the regular team this season, but with such a performance, it is highly likely that Jabbari and Entezari have to fight it out to be in the starting line-up next season along side Aslanian.
In Fridays matches, Paas routed Malvan Anzali with 5 goals, but it was one victory too late for the Tehrani team that started the campaign with so much promise and talent. The interesting event of the match was nobody but the now-so-familiar Rasoul Khatibi.
Khatibi was fired from the team, after the fiasco of last week including disobeying the orders of the coach in taking a penalty ( which he missed) , then bad mouthing the coach in the media. However his dismissal which was publicly announced by the team in the newspapers, did not last long !!!! A few days later he turns up for training with a bunch of flowers , and as if nothing have happened, continues with training.
He was immediately drafted in & played against Malavan, and...yet again he took a penalty and missed his fourth penalty in a row.!!!!!!
To save his blushes Janmalki scored from the rebound off the penalty.
Other goals were scored by Khodadad Azizi (2), Javad Nekounam and Hedayati. 
This left the late match of the week between Esteghlal & Payakn as the most important one of the week. A good crowd of around 25,000 fans turned up to support Esteghlal in this important derby clash.
Esteghlal scored a goal in the 17th minute from Fraz Fatemi's header while controlling the pace and tempo of the game. Paykan on the other hand threatened several times and if it was not for the superb saves of Tabatabaei, the result could have been so different. 
Akbarpour and Deenmohammady along with Tabatabaei were their best players while Saeed Lotfi, showed once again why Team Melli coaches are so impressed with him.
With this result, Esteghlal need a solitary point against Malavan to capture the first IPL championship, while Perspolis must win to keep their hopes alive. Paas is out of the championship running. 
The rest of the weeks result did not have much effect on the championship. The other notable event was Gholam Reza Enayati's goal in a 2-1 win for Abo Moslem against Zob Ahan in Esfahan, which increased his tally to 10 goals leading the top scorers chart.
The fans are now eagerly anticipating the final week matches. Although Esteghlal is the top bet for winning the league, but any slip by them will be surely capitalized on by the fighting Perspolis players.