According to Mehr reporter, Esteghlal football team lost its first week match against Sepahan to Isfahani in a situation where even though it was the host, it could not benefit from the presence of its spectators. This brought criticism.
Bijan Taheri, head of Esteghlal, in a conversation with the club’s media regarding the league organization’s new announcement, said: First of all, what happened in these five days when the situation suddenly changed? What equipment was completed in these five days when spectators were allowed to enter some stadiums? This is a clear discrimination against us.
He added: “The league organization must come up with a convincing reason for our fans to be convinced.” Why do we have to play against our rival without spectators in the first week, but this week our rivals play with the presence of their spectators?
This veteran of Esteghlal continued: League organization should clarify this issue for us and our fans, what happened? We object to this issue because it is the right of our fans and we feel that they have dreams for independence. We have seen similar actions last year and previous years as well, but we are determined to succeed and from now on we say that our return match against Sepahan must be held without spectators.
In the end, Taheri stated: In order to ensure justice and to prove that all teams are treated equally, the league organization should hold the match between Esteghlal and Sepahan in the second half of the season without spectators so that the conditions are similar to Azadi Stadium.