Sepahan resumed their Iran Pro League campaign with two wins, defeating Chadormalu SC 2-1 and then outplaying Kheybar Khorramabad 2-0 on Sunday to move three points ahead of Tractor FC, who fell 2-0 to defending champions Persepolis. 

Tractor, whose first match of the week was a 5-1 defeat of Rafsanjan, saw their hopes of topping the table come undone by Persepolis’ Soroush Rafiel in the 11th minute and Giorgi Gvelesiani in the 73rd.  

 

Third-placed Foolad beat Rafsanjan 3-2 on Sunday, thanks to a double by Gustavo Leschuk in the 68th and 85th minutes after Mohammad Soleimani opened the scoring in the 31st minute. They defeated Nassaji Mazandaran 1-0 earlier in the week.

Esteghlal Khozestan drew 1-1 with Gol Gahar while Esteghlal FC and Malavan played to a goalless draw.

 

Earlier in the week, Aluminium Arak and Esteghlal Khozestan drew 1-1, Kheybar beat bottom club Havadar 2-0 and Esteghlal FC lost 1-0 to Shams Azar.

 

Malavan had a player sent off in the 43rd minute and fell to a 1-0 loss to Gol Gohar, as did Zob Ahan, who were reduced to 10 men in the 37th minute in their 0-0 stalemate with Persepolis.

Mohun Bagan Super Giant drew their second consecutive match after they were held 0-0 by Chennaiyin.

 

Despite the tie, Mohun Bagan still lead the Indian Super League with 37 points, four ahead of FC Goa, who beat Chennaiyin 2-0 later in the week for their second win in a row. 

Odisha inflicted a 3-2 defeat on third-placed Bengaluru, who had a player sent off in the 26th minute. The former’s first two goals from Diego Mauricio via penalties in the 29th and 38th minutes saw the Brazilian take his tally to nine goals. Odisha closed the match with a 50th-minute strike from Jerry Mawihmingthanga.

 

Jamshedpur’s Spanish import Javi Hernandez also put away two penalties - in the 24th and 28th minutes - but failed to stop his fourth-placed side going down 3-2 to second-from-bottom Hyderabad.

 

Other matches saw East Bengal defeating Kerala Blasters 2-1 and Mumbai City overcoming last-placed Mohammedan SC 3-0.

Mohammedan’s run of wins in the Bangladesh Football Premier League came to an end at eight after they lost 1-0 to seventh-placed Fakirerpool. 

 

The league leaders, who fell to a strike from Fakirerpool’s Uzbek midfielder Sardor Jakhonov in the 66th minute, finished round one with 24 points, four ahead of Abahani Limited Dhaka, whose goalless draw against Brothers Union saw them close round one also with one loss.

Reigning champions Bashundhara Kings wrapped up their first round campaign in style with a 5-0 defeat of Dhaka Wanderers to sit in third. Fortis beat bottom-placed Abahani Chittagong 1-0 to record their first win in five matches. 

 

Bangladesh Police defeated Rahmatganj 2-1, with Mohammed Al-Amin’s double placing him joint second with Brothers Union’s Cheikh Sene in the scorers’ list with seven goals apiece. Rahmatganj’s Ghanaian striker Samuel Boateng leads the pack with 11 goals from nine matches.