Diego Costa’s lucky goal sealed it for the Spaniards, who had to fight it out with Iran’s packed defence for the 1-0 win. Iran heartbreakingly lost out on a goal after VAR ruled it out as offside. Spain take six points and join Portugal as Iran drop to the Third position in Group B. Iran need to beat Portugal if they fancy themselves in the round of 16.
Here are the updates from the match:
Spain 1-0 Iran!
FULL TIME!!!
90+3 minute: Iran are pushing hard, gutsy performance by them but the equaliser eludes them.
90+2 minute: Free-kick to Spain. Yellow card! Omid Ebrahimi gets booked.
4 minutes of Stoppage time!
89 minute: Spain’s Rodrigo replaces Diego Costa.
87 minute: Spain try to hold possession while Iran are giving it away after an interception.
86 minute: Substitution for Iran! Ghoddos replaces Amiri.
6 minutes to go!
81 minute: What an effort! Iran almost found the equaliser after a brilliant cross from the left flank but the Iranian’s header misses the goal by a whisker.
79 minute: Substitution for Spain! Marco Asensio replaces Lucas Vázquez.
78 minute: Yellow card! Iran’s Amiri gets booked for a bad foul.
75 minute: That was close! Iran nearly scored the equaliser there but the Iranian attacker failed to make a contact to the dangerous cross.
73 minute: Substitution for Iran. Jahanbaksh replaces Ansarifard.
72 minute: Substitution for Spain. Koke in for Iniesta.
70 minute: Ramos fires at the goal but the defenders literally put their body on the ball resulting in a scramble on the line.
68 minute: Substitution for Iran! Safi gets replaced by Mohammadi. Corner for Spain.
65 minute: Spirited Iran will look to bounce back after the heartbreak. They do not have an attacking flair but are not going down without a fight.
61 minute: Free-kick to Iran. Iran score but Referee goes for the VAR. Massive disappointment for the Iranians as the Referee rules out the goal.
59 minute: Iran are pressing hard and could have equalised but the Iranian’s header goes wide.
57 minute: Corner for Spain after the Iran defender flicks it away to safety. It will be interesting to see how Iran will pick themselves up from here.
55 minute: Iran attack for the first time in the second-half but Ramos steals the ball from the Iranian striker.
Spain 1-0 Iran!
53 minute: GOAL!! Costa deflects the ball into the Iranian goal. That is nine goals in nine matches for the Spaniard!
49 minute: SAVE!!! Iran’s Beiranvand makes a brilliant save that was certainly going in. what an effort!
48 minute: Corner for Spain. Isco to take the corner. Excellent defence by Iran.
46 minute: Spain’s Isco sprints on the left flank but hits the ball away to a goal-kick. This game could come to a single mistake.
The second-half is underway
Spain 0-0 Iran
Half-time!!
45+1 minute: That was close! Corner for Spain! Silva’s fiery shot is deflected by Iran’s Pouraliganji.
3 minutes of Stoppage time!
In 43 minutes Spain have had only one shot on target.
42 minute: Spain have had most of the ball and the Iranians are all behind it in the defence.
38 minute: Iran’s Safi goes down on the edge of the Spain penalty box, looks like a hamstring injury.
36 minute: Corner for Iran! The ball is cleared to safety.
Spain are unbeaten in their last 21 matches and Irain are unbeaten in their last 23 matches.
33 minute: Iran are trying hard to have a touch at the ball but Spain are not giving anything away as they keep pressing up-front.
29 minute: That was close! Spain’s Silva tries to hit the target with a bicycle-kick but the ball goes over the crossbar.
Possession
Spain- 82 percent
Iran- 18 percent
25 minute: Iran’s centre-back look organised and are holding the Spain attackers really well.
24 minute: Free-kick to Spain! Silva takes the free-kick, the ball gets deflected and could have been a dodgy situation for Iran but the goalkeeper collects it.
21 minute: The Iran goalkeeper is kept busy by the Spain carnage, but he keeps his calm.
19 minute: Free-kick to Iran!
17 minute: That was close! Iran make a mess of the golden opportunity! They need to improve their quality up front.
16 minute: Sergio Ramos chips the ball into the Iran penalty box but the goalkeeper was on his toes and collects it comfortably.
14 minute: Iran have their second shot in Spain box but the ball goes wide. Iran need to grab their chances and make most of it.
Possession
Spain- 75 percent
Iran- 25 percent
8 minute: Free-kick to Spain after Isco goes down looking for space on the left flank. Decent shot by Alba but fails to find a teammate in Iran’s penalty box.
Interestingly, Iran have conceded only 11 goals in their last 25 matches.
3 minute: Spain are up and attacking early in the match but they need to get past Iran’s defence. This could be a cracker of a match.
Kick-off!
Lineups
Spain XI: De Gea, Carvajal, Piqué, Ramos, Alba, Busquets, Lucas Vázquez, Iniesta, Isco, Silva, Costa.
Iran XI: Beiranvand, Sadi, Ezatolahi, Pouraliganji, Omid, Karim, Amiri, Mehdi, Hosseini, Sardar, Ramin.
The Spanish side will look to take the pressure off with a win and the Iranians would hope to continue their good form. If Iran pull off a win against the 2010 World Cup champ
Iran would rely on their strong defence and it will be interesting to see if they decide to change their lineup with their skipper Jalal Hosseini and Steven Beitashour. Iran has an uphill task of getting past Spain’s defenders, Sergio Ramos, Jordi Alba and Gerard Pique. Spain will hope that their star goalkeeper David de Gea, who had a poor outing against Portugal, to come good against the Asian team.
Spain full squad:
Goalkeepers: David de Gea (Manchester United/ENG), Pepe Reina (Napoli/ITA), Kepa Arrizabalaga (Athletic Bilbao)
Defenders: Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid), Alvaro Odriozola (Real Sociedad), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Nacho (Real Madrid), Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea/ENG), Jordi Alba (Barcelona), Nacho Monreal (Arsenal/ENG)
Midfielders: Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Saul Niguez (Atletico Madrid), Koke (Atletico Madrid), Thiago Alcantara (Barcelona), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), David Silva (Manchester City/ENG)
Forwards: Isco (Real Madrid), Marco Asensio (Real Madrid), Lucas Vazquez (Real Madrid), Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo), Rodrigo (Valencia), Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid)
Iran full squad:
Goalkeepers: Alireza Beiranvand (Persepolis), Rashid Mazaheri (Zob Ahan), Amir Abedzadeh (Maritimo/POR)
Defenders: Ali Gholizadeh (Saipa), Majid Hosseini (Esteghlal), Milad Mohammadi (Akhmat Grozny/RUS), Mohammad Khanzadeh (Padideh), Morteza Pouraliganji (Alsaad/QAT), Pejman Montazeri (Esteghlal), Ramin Rezaeian (Ostende/BEL), Roozbeh Cheshmi (Esteghlal)
Midfielders: Ehsan Haji Safi (Olympiacos/GRE), Karim Ansarifard (Olympiacos/GRE), Masoud Shojaei (AEK Athens/GRE), Mahdi Torabi (Saipa), Omid Ebrahimi (Esteghlal), Saeid Ezatolahi (Amkar Perm/RUS)
Forwards: Alireza Jahanbakhsh (AZ Alkmaar/NED), Ashkan Dejageh (Nottingham Forest/ENG), Mahdi Taremi (Al-Gharafa/QAT), Reza Ghoochannejhad (Heerenveen/NED), Saman Ghoddos (Ostersunds/SWE), Sardar Azmoun (Rubin Kazan/RUS), Vahid Amiri (Persepolis)
Source: Zee News