Esteghlal head coach Pitso Mosimane has commented on his side's 3-0 loss at the hands of Saudi Arabian giants Al Hilal on Monday evening.
Unsurprisingly, the gulf in class between the two teams showed as Alexandre Mitrovic's hat-trick proved to be the difference on the night.
For Mosimane, it was another chance to fine tune his tactical demands to his players against a far superior opponent. Despite the heavy defeat, Mosimane was far from despondent about the result, instead he saw it as a turning point for the Iranian giants.
"Today there were big differences between the two sides, Al Hilal and Esteghlal Tehran, and we lost a number of players in the match. I know that this is not an excuse, but everyone knows that we faced a very big team," he said in a post-match press conference.
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"Al Hilal is a big team, that I have faced before in the Club World Cup, and when you coach a team like that, your job as a coach becomes easier. For example, I should not tell (Joao) Cancelo how to play crosses, or Mitrovic how to score goals.
"I am unlucky because of the injuries that struck the players in the match. I know that this is part of the game of football, but everyone knows that these things make the coach's job difficult in matches.
"I feel that the Esteghlal team has started to develop recently despite the loss. I know very well the problems facing the team and surrounding it, and I have only played five training sessions and three matches with them up to this moment, but certainly the coming period will be successful for us," he added.
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