21 goals scored in the 3rd week of Persian Gulf Pro League 1395/96, only one tie between Saba Qom and Mashinsazi: Spanish goalkeeper Manu conceded one goal at his debut before Jalal Rafkhaei scored on penalty with ten minutes remaining. Zob Ahan found the first victory of this season beating away Foolad Khuzestan 0-2: on the Isfahani bench was sitting S. Mojtaba Hosseini instead of the head coach Yahya Golmohammadi, the latter suspended by his team due to disciplinary matters. Good news for Ali Daei, since Naft Tehran beat 3-0 Padideh thanks to a double by veteran Iman Mob’Ali and the third goal by Mohammad Ghazi. A very nervous match between FC Mashhad and Saipa, where the players did not hide their legs and the referee Ali Safaei showed 6 yellow cards: Saipa eventually won 2-0. Incredible defeat suffered at Azadi Stadium by Esteghlal Tehran, although they were winning 1-0 until 86′ when Reza Norouzi equilized for Sanat Naft, and few minutes later his teammate Baghlani scored on penalty: Ali Reza Mansourian has to take responsibility after collecting 1 point in 3 weeks. Persepolis giants won against Gostaresh Foolad with a goal by Vahid Amiri: to say the truth it seemed more a cross than an attempt, but it was enough to surprise Fernando de Jesus Ribeiro; now Branko Ivankovic selection is on the top of the league. Sepahan did not disappoint home fans and defeated 3-1 Esteghlal Khuzestan: Rahim Zahivi scored on penalty the only goal of the guest team, becoming the top scorer of the tournement. In the last match of this week, Tractorsazi collected a 3-1 victory at home: in five minutes the host scored twice and Paykan got the ball into the net with Sadeghi; Iraqi midfielder Karrar Jassim secured the win with his first goal of the season.

WEEK 3

Friday 5 August 2016

FC Mashhad 0-2 Saipa Karaj [WATCH goals & highlights]
Goals: 41′ Mehdi Torabi (SAI), 56′ pen. Hamed Shiri (SAI)
Bookings: 23′ Gholamreza Rezaei (SAI), 45′ Siamak Kouroshi (SAI), 45+2′ Ayoub Kalantari (MAS), 55′ Mohsen Aghaei (MAS), 69′ Hamed Shiri (SAI), 71′ Alessandro Felipe Oltramari (SAI)
Referee: Ali Safaei

Foolad Khuzestan 0-2 Zob Ahan Isfahan [WATCH goals & highlights]
Goals: 24′ Mehdi Rajabzadeh (ZOB), 64′ S. Mohammad Hosseini (ZOB)
Referee: Rouhollah Sharifi

Esteghlal Tehran 1-2 Sanat Naft Abadan [WATCH goals & highlights]
Goals: 66′ Ali Ghorbani (EST), 86′ Reza Norouzi (SAN), 93′ pen. Hossein Baghlani
Bookings: 57′ Hossein Baghlani (SAN), 65′ Kim Gwi-Hyeon (SAN)
Referee: Mohammad Reza Akbarian

Saturday 6 August 2016

Gostaresh Foolad Tabriz 0-1 Persepolis Tehran [WATCH goals & highlights]
Goals: 47′ Vahid Amiri (PER)
Bookings: 18′ Luciano “Chimba” Pereira (GOS), 42′ Farshad Ahmadzadeh (PER), 50′ Mohsen Rabi Khah (PER), 82′ Mohsen Mosalman (PER)
Referee: Touraj Haghvardi

Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan Isfahan 3-1 Esteghlal Khuzestan [WATCH goals & highlights]
Goals: 31′ Farid Behzadi Karimi (SEP), 40′ Rasoul Navidkia (SEP), 80′ Taleb Reykani (SEP), 85′ pen. Rahim Zahivi (ESK)
Bookings: 60′ Meysam Doraghi (ESK)
Referee: Shaehin Haji Babaei

Saba Qom 1-1 Mashinsazi Tabriz [WATCH goals & highlights]
Goals: 37′ Karim Eslami (SAB), 80′ pen. S. Jalal Rafkhaei (MTA)
Bookings: 38′ Kakhaber Kakashvili (MTA)
Referee: Omid Saeidfar

Naft Tehran 3-0 Padideh Mashhad
Goals: 5′ and 22′ Iman Mob’Ali (NAF), 66′ Mohammad Ghazi (NAF)
Bookings: 55′ Iman Mob’Ali (NAF)
Referee: Yaser Hamrang

Sunday 7 August 2016

Tractorsazi Tabriz 3-1 Paykan Qods [WATCH goals & highlights]
Goals: 24′ Eder “Edinho” Luciano (TRA), 26′ Mohammad Ebrahimi (TRA), 28′ Amir Hossein Sadeghi (PAY), 51′ Karrar Jassim (TRA)
Referee: Reza Mahdavi

STANDINGS

Club	Points	W	D	L	GF	GA
Persepolis Tehran	7	2	1	0	3	1
Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan Esfahan	6	2	0	1	4	2
Tractorsazi Tabriz	5	1	2	0	5	3
Mashinsazi Tabriz	5	1	2	0	3	2
Sanat Naft Abadan	5	1	2	0	2	1
Naft Tehran	4	1	1	1	4	2
Zob Ahan Esfahan	4	1	1	1	4	3
Saipa Karaj	4	1	1	1	3	2
Esteghlal Khuzestan	4	1	1	1	5	6
FC Mashhad	4	1	1	1	3	4
Padideh Mashhad	4	1	1	1	2	4
Saba Qom	3	0	3	0	2	2
Gostaresh Foolad Tabriz	2	0	2	1	0	1
Paykan Qods	2	0	2	1	2	4
Esteghlal Tehran	1	0	1	2	3	5
Foolad Khuzestan	1	0	1	2	2	5

Top scorers

Rahim Zahivi (ESK)	3 (2 pen.)
Vahid Amiri (PER) Farid Behzadi Karimi (SEP) Hassan Beit Saeid (ESK) Eder “Edinho” Luciano (TRA) Iman Mob’Ali (NAF) Mehdi Rajabzadeh (ZOB) Mehdi Torabi (SAI)	2 2 (1 pen.) 2 2 2 2 2
29 players	1

Top cards

Hamed Pakdel (MTA)	1 red card 2 yellow cards
Farshad Ahmadzadeh (PER)	2 yellow cards
Hossein Baghlani (SAN)	2 yellow cards
Meysam Doraghi (ESK)	2 yellow cards
Karim Eslami (SAB)	2 yellow cards
Luciano “Chimba” Pereira (GOS)	2 yellow cards
Alessandro Felipe Oltramari (SAI)	2 yellow cards

FIXTURES WEEK 4

Thursday 11 August 2016
Mashinsazi Tabriz – Tractorsazi Tabriz
Sanat Naft Abadan – Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan Isfahan
Paykan Qods – Esteghlal Tehran
Zob Ahan Isfahan – Gostaresh Foolad Tabriz
Saipa Karaj – Padideh Mashhad
Persepolis Tehran – Saba Qom
Esteghlal Khuzestan – Naft Tehran

Friday 12 August 2016
FC Mashhad – Foolad Khuzestan