Saba have had an unusual run in the ACL winning their two away matches but losing one home tie and drawing another. Saba will qualify for the knock-out stage of ACL if they win their remaining two games one of which is against table toppers Al Karama.

Saba's return game against Al Wahda took a similar path to their first meeting two weeks ago with Saba taking a 2-0, a mistake by Saba defender Yahya Golmohammadi scoring an own goal allowed Al Wahda back into the match before half time whistle, the match appeared to be following the same path as the first leg where Al Wahda pulled back from 2-0 down to draw the match 2-2.

However, Saba defender Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh who was called up to the national side by Team Melli head coach Branko Ivankovic this week gave a good account of himself in this match and closed Al Wahda's forwards down on numerous occasions with his interceptions and good marking, Sohrab got on the score-sheet in the second half and restored Saba's two goal lead, this was followed by Saba's fourth goal four minutes later courtesy of beigi. Al Wahda managed a late goal but the match ended 2-4 in favour of Saba Battery and three invaluable points for the Iranian side which moved them up to second place in the table and right back in contest.

Iran's other representative in ACL Foolad Khuzestan had a disastrous day in their fourth match, having taken the lead against Uzbek champions Pakhtakor in the first half Foolad conceded three goals in the second half losing the match 1-3 to their visitors, the loss effectively ended Foolad's run in the tournament as they fell behind group leaders by five points with two games remaining.

Foolad had a difficult season in the Iranian Premier League (IPL) losing their key player Iman Mobali and having to play their home matches in Tehran or Abadan courtesy of Takhti Stadium of Ahvaz undergoing renovation. This deprived Foolad of home advantage for the whole season especially with ACL matches played in Tehran where the climate is much colder than Ahvaz at this time of the year and not suitable for Foolad players.