Pitso avoids tough first clash at Esteghlal that would have seen him face Ronaldo again

Pitso Mosimane's priority at new Iranian club Esteghlal is to improve their domestic league position, and the coach might be relieved to have avoided what could have been a daunting first assignment when they face Cristiano Ronaldo's Saudi outfit Al-Nassr.

Esteghlal meet Al-Nassr in a 2024–2025 AFC Champions League Elite league-phase clash on Tuesday night.

It would have been the second time a team coached by Mosimane came face to face with Ronaldo and his Riyadh-based club, where the 39-year-old Portuguese superstar has banged in goals at will and formed a deadly partnership with Senegalese former Liverpool star Sadio Mané.

However, Esteghlal have clarified Mosimane will not be on the bench in the continental clash.

"[Mosimane] will not be coaching the Famous Royal Blues in the coming game as his official beginning of training camp will be on Wednesday, the day after Esteghlal's important game against Al-Nassr,” Esteghlal posted on X.

Mosimane's effort to save battling Saudi Pro League (SPL) outfit Abha from relegation last season hit its worst stumbling block when Ronaldo's hat-trick inspired Al-Nassr to an 8-0 thrashing of the South African coach's team in Abha in April.

Abha had been showing signs of improvements in form and while Mosimane oversaw a level of recovery again after such a demoralising defeat, in the end his team were relegated by a point in heartbreaking fashion on the final day of the 2023- 2024 SPL on May 27.

Mosimane did not continue with Abha in Saudi's second tier Yelo League, where he previously had success steering Al-Ahli to the title in the 2022-2023 season, after which that club elected to change coaches for their top-flight assignment.

On Friday, after a break from a top assignment for a few months, the former Mamelodi Sundowns and Al Ahly (Egypt) boss was announced as the new coach of Esteghlal FC, tasked with improving their 11th placing in Iran's Persian Gulf Pro League (PGPL).

Esteghlal have played seven PGPL games in 2024-2025 and have a match in hand on some of the teams above them. After a second-place finish last campaign under 44-year-old Javad Nekounam, who as a midfielder played about 150 matches for Iran and Spain's Osasuna, Esteghlal's dip in form this campaign resulted his departure on October 1.

Mosimane, assuming his paperwork has been put in place, gets his first taste of action when his new team meet 13th-placed Kheybar Khorramabad away in the league on Saturday.

Before that Esteghlal meet Al-Nassr in the Asian Football Confederation's premier interclub competition at Rashid Stadium in Dubai on Tuesday evening.

Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh, who has been interim manager since Nekounam’s departure at the beginning of the month, is expected to take charge of Esteghlal in the continental clash.

The AFC Champions League's new format this season sees 24 sides compete in two 12-team leagues (east and west regions), from which the top eight in each reach the knockout last 16.

Esteghlal have had a middling start in the AFC league stage, with a 3-0 win against Qatar's Al-Gharafa and 2-0 defeat to Al-Sadd, also from Qatar.

They face a far sterner test against Ronaldo, Mané and Al-Nassr.