According to the Mehr correspondent, Hamid Motahari, after Foolad's 1-0 victory over Persepolis in Week 10 of the current Premier League season at Shohadaye Shahr-e Qods Stadium, said: We knew Persepolis would start the match with high pressure in front of its own fans. We tried to control the team at the beginning of the match and have the necessary rebuilding in different parts of the field. With the plan by which we changed our style of play in the second half and implemented it on the field.

The Foolad head coach added: I was at Persepolis for three years and I knew it has found a very good team despite all the changes it has had. I knew we would play a direct game with long balls. This loss takes nothing away from the values of the good Persepolis team. I congratulate the good people of Ahvaz and Khuzestan, and I say 'well done' to my players, who were very hard-working.

In response to Foolad's defensive approach for this match, he stated: Part of the game was this very work. When you play against a contending and star-studded team, you must be flawless. Persepolis had won 4-5 matches and we analyzed them carefully and meticulously. Everyone knows how sensitive I am about this issue, and with our own means we were able to win. We were the third team in terms of ball possession in 10 weeks. Thank God we won.

Motahari, about his indescribable joy after Foolad's goal, recalled: For three years at Persepolis I gave my life. If I slack off at Foolad, be sure I was the same at Persepolis too.

About the goal by Vahid Amiri, the experienced Foolad player and former Persepolis player, he said: Vahid is truly unique. He is, in the true sense of the word, a role model for the team's youths. When last year the bitter incident of injury happened to him, everyone said his football was finished. At that same time I told Amiri himself: wherever I am, you be sure about your contract. He has a healthy life and it is my duty to help him. Vahid Amiri and Saman Ansari are, in the true sense of the word, captains. Today I did not have 5 of my players. Ramin Rezaeian, Mohammad Ghoreishi, Joulani, Sarlak and Milad Mohammadi are injured.

Motahari noted: Many made snide remarks and said 'you want to be noble' and mocked me.

Source: Mehr