Overview

• Rustam Soirov broke the deadlock a minute after halftime, pouncing on a defensive mix-up between Sandesh Jhinghan and Pol Moreno to beat goalkeeper Hrithik Tiwari.
• Substitute Reza Dehghani scored eight minutes after coming on, driving in from the edge of the box to seal the win.
• Istiklol’s victory follows a heavy opening defeat to Al Nassr and marks their first points of the group stage.
• FC Goa have now lost back-to-back Group D fixtures after their opening home defeat to Al Zawraa.
• In India, the match had no live TV telecast and was streamed on FanCode by subscription, with FC Goa hosting Al Nassr on October 22 and Istiklol facing Al Zawraa the same day.