Abdelkarim Hassan: We have a tough match coming up

Al-Sadd full-back Abdelkarim Hassan stressed on the importance of the upcoming QNB Stars League game against Al-Arabi, saying that the past encounter between the sides was a thing of the past.

“We defeated them by a huge margin in the first phase, and there were many reasons for this, including the lack of luck for Al-Arabi. But this (upcoming) game will be different and they could have a reaction. We need to be ready for that. Our objective is to win and get the three points.”

As for being nominated for Asia’s Best Player award, Abdelkarim said: “I am happy and proud that I am the third Qatari player to be selected for Asia’s Best Player award. This is proof that Qatar has players of a high calibre. I am very happy and I hope I will have the luck to win it.”

“To be honest, the nomination was a surprise. But the AFC have their criteria and they selected me as per those. I am really happy and proud at that.”

The group stage draw for next year’s AFC Champions League was made earlier today and asked about Al-Sadd’s chances, Abdelkarim said: “Al-Sadd’s aim is to always qualify from the group, regardless of the difficulty of the group. Our goal is to always compete and go through to the latter stages.