According to Mehr reporter, Hojat Karimi said on the sidelines of Esteghlal’s match against Naft Abadan: “Our team is in good conditions and I hope we can finish this match with victory.”
Regarding the events that happened between Persepolis and Pikan, he added: I was present at the meeting, but I was not supposed to sign the paper that Persepolis will play against Pikan at Azadi Stadium. I was asked to come to the meeting even though I had a difficult situation and had to go to Dubai, but I came to the meeting out of respect for the gentlemen, but when I saw that everything was against Esteghlal, I protested and said that the two teams were not supposed to play in Azadi Stadium. Ghanbarzadeh also admitted his mistake and said that I made a mistake in this regard.
The manager of Esteghlal club continued: Unfortunately, the situation is such that it shows that the league organization supports Persepolis and this is not a good behavior. Even the Security Council withdrew and said that we did not say that they must play in Azadi Stadium, but I believe that this project was initiated 10 days ago and they wanted to hold the game in Azadi Stadium.
Karimi further noted: I did my best to prevent this from happening, because in today’s football, it does not happen that a team is the host in two return games.
In response to the question that the tweet of one of the veterans was influential in the selection of Azadi Stadium, the head of the Esteghlal Club said: “It had nothing to do with this tweet.” This happened a few days ago and all the officials were aware of it, but I wonder why the officials of the league organization did it so easily.
He continued: “We tried our best, our players are also trying their best to leave the field victorious in the next three matches, but some events are beyond our control and the officials themselves had made the necessary arrangements.”
Regarding the financial issues of the players, he said: “All my efforts are to solve the problems of the players so that they can continue their work peacefully.”
In the end, Karimi noted: I hope the fans will be with the players and by supporting them, they will guarantee the success of Esteghlal in the last three weeks of the league.
According to Mehr reporter, Hojjat Karimi made headlines this morning by talking about the venue of Persepolis and Pikan match. The league organization also announced that it will file a complaint against Karimi to the Ethics Committee of the Football Federation.