Naft Tehran head coach Ali Daei is confident of winning the league opener against Esteghlal despite his lack of time to prepare his team.

“We had very little time to get prepared for the league as I joined Naft just two weeks before the start of the season but we tried our best to sign new players and prepare for the league. Esteghlal had more time and they are definitely ahead of us in terms of preparation but we are not going to start the league with a defeat,” Naft Tehran coach Ali Daei said.

“The match will be held in the empty Azadi stadium but it would have been a more interesting match with the fans as they can inspire the players and make a different atmosphere,” he added.

On the other hand, Alireza Mansourian who was in charge of Naft Tehran for the last two years, will take on his former team for the first time.

“I owe my coaching career to Naft and I respect them a lot but tomorrow we will fight to take the three points. We don’t have our captain Mehdi Rahmati in the goal due to suspension while unfortunately we will not have our fans in the match. I hope this never happen again during the season as football is nothing without the fans,” Mansourian said.