Tehran, Feb 27 (IANS): Tractor Sazi Tabriz of Iran defeated Al-Jazira of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) 3-1 in Group A of Asian Champions League.

In the match held in Tabriz Yadeghar-e-Emam Stadium before 85,000 spectators Tuesday, striker Mehdi Seyed-Salehi gave the hosts the lead in the 35th minute and Javad Kazemian doubled their advantage in the 59th minute, reports Xinhua.

Ali Mabkhout pulled one goal back for Al-Jazira in the 79th minute but Tractor Sazi's another striker Masoud Ebrahimzadeh netted the third for the hosts two minutes later to rub salt into the visiting team's injuries. Mohammad Ebrahimi of Tractor Sazi Tabriz was sent off by the Chinese referee in the 84th minute after receiving his second yellow card.

"We knew that we would have a difficult match in Tabriz. Tractor Sazi always plays well in home. I am satisfied with the performance of my team," said Al-Jazira coach Luis Milla.

The 90-minute support of the host's fans gave them the privilege to push their team forward, said the Spaniard, who recently replaced Brazilian Paolo Bonamigo in UAE.

Toni Oliveira, the Portugese coach of Tractor Sazi Tabriz, expressed satisfaction over his first victory in Asian Champions League with the Tabrizi team, saying that "Today, our players held a game with concentration and according to the plan they had been instructed ahead of the match. We knew the weak and strong points of the rival and had talked about them to our players."

In another match of the same group, Al Shabab of Saudi Arabia beat El Jaish of Qatar 2-0 Tuesday.