Mehdi Taremi – Skills of the Iranian Striker

Mehdi Taremi – Skills of the Iranian Striker

Mehdi Taremi (Persian: مهدی طارمی; born 18 July 1992) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Primeira Liga club Porto and the Iran national team.

Having begun his career at Shahin Bushehr and Iranjavan, Taremi played for Persepolis between 2014 and 2018; he was Persian Gulf Pro League top scorer on two occasions (2015–16 and 2016–17). He played for Qatari side Al-Gharafa between 2018 and 2019, before joining Rio Ave in Portugal, with whom he was Primeira Liga joint-top scorer in 2019–20. In 2020, he moved to fellow Portuguese side Porto.

Taremi made his first senior appearance in 2015, and played at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

Porto

In August 2020, Taremi signed a four-year contract with Portuguese club FC Porto. He scored his first league goal for Porto on 8 November 2020 in a 3–1 home win against Portimonense. There was a foul on Taremi during the 2020 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira in December 2020 which gave Porto a penalty and resulted in their first goal of the match scored by Sérgio Oliveira. Porto went on to win the 42nd edition of the competition 2–0, which gave Mehdi Taremi his first European medal. On 17 February 2021, Taremi opened the scoring for Porto against Juventus in the round-of-16 first leg in the UEFA Champions League. He became the first Iranian to score in the first knockout phase of the competition. On 13 April, he scored the game-winning goal with a spectacular bicycle kick in a 1–0 away win over Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-finals, yet his club lost 1–2 on aggregate. After the final, his goal against Chelsea was voted as the best goal of the season’s Champions League. The goal also won the “UEFA.com Goal of the Season” award, and was later nominated for the FIFA Puskás Award. Taremi finished the 2020–21 season with 16 goals and 11 assists.

Taremi won his first Primeira Liga title in the 2021-22 season with FC Porto. His contributions that season included 20 goals and 12 assists. He was the second-highest goalscorer and the third-highest playmaker through assists that season.

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