Turkey defeated Iran 2-1 in an international friendly match on Monday evening in Istanbul.

The match in Istanbul's Başakşehir Fatih Terim Stadium saw two countries met with each other for the first time in 44 years.

While the majority of the spectators were Iranians, the first two goals came from Turkey with Everton's striker Cenk Tosun.

In the 90th minute of the match, Iran was awarded a penalty kick when Turkey's defender Omer Bayram blocked the shot with his hand in desperation, eventually was sent off.

Iran's Ashkan Dejagah -- who plays for Nottingham Forest in England's Championship Division -- converted the penalty kick to make the score 2-1.

The Iranian team is now headed to Austria to hold another warm-up match against Greece on June 2. Finally, the Persians will face Lithuania before starting the breathtaking matches against Spain, Portugal and Morocco in the 2018 World Cup.

In other friendly matches held on Monday, Italy beat Saudi Arabia 2-1, Portugal and Tunisia tied 2-2, France beat Ireland 2-0 and Mexico and Wales ended the match in a draw, 0-0.

Turkey advanced to the finals of the FIFA World Cup on two occasions in 1954 and 2002 and finished ninth and third respectively. Turkey's dreams of participating in the 2018 World Cup were crushed after it had suffered a 3-0 defeat against Iceland last October.