The Blue Wave, riding high after a 4-1 first-leg victory, looked to be cruising into the last eight when Salem Saleh, their two-goal hero in Dubai a week ago, tapped in to give Ivan Jovanovic’s side a 5-1 aggregate lead in Tabriz. But Tractor Sazi turned the game on its head in 26 second-half minutes to almost complete an improbable comeback.
The hosts were dealt a body blow after 16 minutes when Saleh scored to silence a packed Yadegar-e-Emam Stadium crowd.
Saleh tucked Jonathan Pitroipa’s wicked low cross in at the back post after captain Luis Jimenez had failed to connect.
That sucked the life out of Tractor and their fans, but they found their voice again after the break when Farzad Hatami leveled the scores to give them a glimmer of hope. Aloys Nong set him up and he impressively held off a defender before firing through Ahmed Shambieh’s legs to spark the fightback two minutes after the restart.
Just after the hour, Tractor led on the night with a rocket shot from right-back Mohammad Iranpourian. The ball was played up to Cameroon menace Nong, the 32-year-old laying it off to the advancing Iranpourian who crashed a shot high past Shambieh.
Tractor sniffed blood and the Blue Wave were now just repelling wave after wave of attacks from the home side. Tractor made it 3-1 through Hatami’s second, although Shambieh will not want to see a replay, somehow allowing a shot slip under his feeble grasp.
Both teams were rocking in very different ways and there were still 20 minutes left for Tractor to find a fourth goal needed to send the game to extra-time.
Hatami and Carlos Cardoso sent headers wide as Tractor drove forward. Nasr defended desperately and with time ticking down, Shambieh atoned for his earlier blunder when he tipped Soroush Rafiei’s dangerous, dipping cross over with Khaled Shafiei waiting to head into an empty net.
Despite clinging on, the manner of victory will stand history-making Nasr in good stead for the next round.
