6 December 21, 2020 Messi Equals Pelé Record Iran, Qatar Call for Enhancement With 643rd Goal of Sports Ties TEHRAN (IFP) - Iran’s Minister The Iranian minister highlighted of Sports and Youth Masoud Sol- the importance of enhancing sports tanifar has met with Qatari Minis- relations between the two sides. ter of Culture and Sports Salah bin In line with the implementation Ghanim Al Ali. of a Tehran-Doha sports agree- In the meeting which came dur- ment, Soltanifar invited the Qatari ing his day-long visit to Doha, minister to visit Iran to finalize and Soltanifar expressed his gratitude sign the plan. to the Qatari official for inviting The Qatari minister, in turn, said him to visit Qatar and for hosting he was ready to form a joint com- Lionel Messi’s header was his 450th La Liga goal, on his 498th La the Asian Football Confederation mittee with Iran to exchange views Liga appearance for Barcelona (AFC) Champions League as well on sports and cultural issues. BARCELONA (Dispatches) - in a row Barcelona conceded the as its final match held between Salah bin Ghanim Al Ali ex- Barcelona legend Messi had the first goal at home. Iran’s Persepolis team and Ulsan pressed hope he will visit Iran by chance to net his historic 643rd Messi and company came back Iran’s Minister of Sports, and Youth Masoud Soltanifar left, meets with Qatari Minister Hyundai of South Korea. next summer. goal from the penalty spot deep to beat Real Sociedad midweek, of Culture and Sports Salah bin Ghanim Al Ali in Doah. into first-half stoppage time in but they had no such luck on Sat- Saturday’s La Liga match against urday. After Ronald Araújo put Four Persepolis Players Nominated Valencia, but the 33-year-old Ar- the hosts in front early in the sec- gentine’s shot was saved by visit- ond half, Gayà made it 2-2 with ing keeper Jaume Doménech. about 20 minutes to play, forcing for ACL Player of Week Doménech couldn’t control the Ronald Koeman’s team to settle TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Four Perse- Using data provided by Stats Per- rebound, though, and Messi was for a point. polis players, Hamed Lak, Milad form, the official data provider for quick to react to Jordi Alba’s de- Pelé, widely considered the Sarlak, Mehdi Abdi and Bashar the AFC, the-afc.com present the flected cross, as the 5-foot-7 for- greatest player of all time un- Resan, have been nominated for the eight candidates in the running for ward headed the ball home from til Messi ascended to the throne, AFC Champions League Player of the accolade to be determined by point-blank range to seal his mile- scored 643 times for Brazilian the Week after the conclusion of the Asia’s football fans in the poll. stone and even the match at 1-1. club Santos between 1956-1974 Continental tournament on Satur- The Persepolis players will vie The goal was Messi’s sixth this before finishing his career in the day. with Ulsan players Junior Negrao, season in the Spanish top flight. It United States. Pelé played three Persepolis lost to Ulsan Hyundai Dave Bulthuis, Lee Chung-yong came after José Gayà shoved An- seasons with the New York Cos- from South Korea 2-1 in Doha’s Al and Kim Kee-hee to be named the toine Griezmann down in the box. mos in the now defunct North Janoub Stadium. Player of the Week. A criminally unmarked Mouctar American Soccer League before Diakhaby had opened the scoring retiring in 1977. The 80-year-old Crush Crystal Palace, Everton Move to Second for Valencia about a half hour into congratulated Messi on Instagram the contest — the second game after his record was equalized. (Reuters) - Liver- The win lifts Everton into sec- pool assured they will spend the ond place, while 14 points from Christmas period as Premier 14 games is Arsenal’s worst start Ronaldo Scores Twice in League leaders by sending out a to a season since the 1974-1975 warning to their rivals with a 7-0 season. Juventus Win win over Crystal Palace on Satur- Raheem Sterling’s 16th-minute