Ferreira: It will be a great match played in excellent conditions, Bounedjah won’t play

Al-Sadd head coach Jesualdo Ferreira spoke of his hope of having “an excellent match” with Al-Gharafa in Round 3 of the QNB Stars League.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Ferreira said: “I think that Friday’s match will be excellent, especially with the comfortable conditions at the Al-Sadd stadium. Al-Gharafa are one of the toughest teams to face in the QSL and our matches with them are always difficult. I don’t know the details about their new players or their new coach and so it’s going to be difficult to talk of them after just two games.”

The coach added: “Baghdad Bounedjah will not play as he has not regained full fitness. All the other players are ready.”

Ferreira also pointed out that Al-Sadd scored thrice in the last game despite the absence of Bounedjah, and this matches the goal-per-game ratio from last season.

When asked about the Al-Gharafa coach declaring Al-Sadd to be the favourites, Ferreira said: “I want to first send my best wishes to the Al-Gharafa coach. I saw that he was suffering from an injury. As for his comments, we know how to deal with that. Every team in the league has not reached their best levels after just two matches.”

The Al-Sadd coach was also asked about his team’s defence. “Yes, our defence was one of the best during last season. All that matters to me is finding the right balance between the backline and the frontline. All teams concede goals. We have time to correct our errors,” said Ferreira. “Ibrahim Majid’s absence is affecting us. Whoever plays instead of him has to perform well. There have been changes in the backline and we need the players to gel well together, especially as we don’t have Ibrahim and Abdelkarim while Fahad and Musab have joined the team.”