Tabriz: Tractorsazi Tabriz coach Toni expressed satisfaction and claimed his Tractorsazi Tabriz side were full value for the 1-0 AFC Champions League victory over his former employers and two-time champions Al Ittihad on Wednesday in their Group C opener.

Despite playing over half an hour with just 10 men following the dismissal on the hour mark of playmaker Ali Karimi, Tractorsazi netted the game’s only goal through Karim Ansarifard to deny the Saudi Arabian King’s Cup winners.

And although Jamal Bajandouh did crash an athletic effort against the crossbar for the visitors in the final minutes of the game, Toni (António José da Conceição Oliveira) felt his side deserved the win.

“I am very satisfied with my boys’ performance and they played the way I liked. In the first period, we played very well from the sides and we had complete mastery over the game,” said the Portuguese coach, who was at the helm of Al Ittihad in the 2010/11 Saudi season.

“Overall, the result we gained was fair and I believe we deserved to win, although we had been toiling away throughout the whole game to seize a hard-fought win.

“We have two difficult matches away from home and we hope to get as many points as possible from these two.

“I’ve been here for one month since I’ve returned to Tabriz and we have had 20 practice sessions. As time passes by, I’m sure we’ll keep improving.”

Al Ittihad coach Juan Verzeri was not too disheartened by the result and, while disagreeing that Karimi’s dismissal aided his side, pointed to the potency of goalscorer Ansarifard as the main difference between the sides.

“We kept marking Karim Ansarifard in the second half, but once we neglected him, he scored the winner in a split of a second,” said coach Verzeri.

“It was a good game. After Tractorsazi were reduced to 10 men following the sending off of Ali Karimi, things got more difficult for us and both teams were fighting tooth and nail for points.

“We knew we would have a hard game against Tractorsazi and its vocal fans. They were the same team we had analysed and they were pretty much like what we expected.”

AFC