There’s no shortage of pride in Iran for their team’s gutsy performance against Spain which they lost 1-0, after having a goal disallowed by VAR. The Asian side gave a good account of themselves in the game as they put up a organized defensive tactics and they looked dangerous on the break. However their resistance was broken by a fortuitous goal by Diego Costa.
The Etemad newspaper described the result as “accidental loss on a breathtaking night”, while government-run Iran wrote that Iranian footballers “fought valiantly”. Javan said Iran had no choice but to “peel Portugal”, a play on words with the Persian word for “orange”, which is sounds similar to the Persian name for Portugal.