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| Head Coach Antonio Oliveira Initially Believed Tractor Sazi Were Champions |
Iranian news agencies report that strange incidents occurred in the final match of the Iranian football championship and that false information was given to the Tractor Sazi team in the final minutes of the game.
In the last round, Tractor Sazi, who was leading the tournament table, played against Tehran's Naft club, and the match ended in a 3-3 draw.
According to ISNA news agency and reports from Iranian television, the Tabriz team believed they were champions and tried to simply finish the match due to false information given to the Tractor Sazi team in the final minutes.
The false information provided to Tractor Sazi was related to the result of the simultaneous match between Saypa and Sepahan. Sepahan defeated Saypa 2-0 and became the Iranian champion. However, federation officials informed the Tractor Sazi coaches that the Sepahan-Saypa match had ended in a draw.
90TV, which is affiliated with Iranian Television, reported the following:
"Such an incident might not have happened anywhere else in the world, but it did occur in Iranian football. At the end of the game, Tractor Sazi's team and their supporters were told that the Saypa-Sepahan match had ended in a draw, and Tractor Sazi was the champion. Supposedly, this false information was given to maintain stadium security. However, according to reports, Tractor Sazi's head coach, Antonio Oliveira, believing that his team was the champion, instructed the players to fall back and just try to hold the result."
According to ISNA, "In the final minutes of the match, all internet, TV, radio, and even mobile phone connections were cut off at Tabriz Stadium."
90TV's report added that after learning they had been deceived, Tractor Sazi fans became angry, leading to a confrontation between fans and the police.
According to reports, several people were injured in the clashes.
In the Tractor Sazi-Neft match, Tractor Sazi was leading 3-1 until the 67th minute. However, after Tractor Sazi striker Andranik Teymuryan was sent off, two goals were scored in the final minutes (77-81), and the match ended in a 3-3 draw.
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Finalda qəribə hadisə - "Traktorsazi"yə yalan məlumat verilib