Ferreira: We displayed our offensive power

Al-Sadd head coach Jesualdo Ferreira expressed his delight after his side registered a huge 5-0 win over Al-Rayyan in the QNB Stars League.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Ferreira said: “When the Clasico ends in a 5-0 result, it’s tough to say that it is a Clasico. It is difficult to have a scoreline like that in a game between teams like Al-Sadd and Al-Rayyan.”

He added: “We were better than Al-Rayyan and dominated the first half completely. In the first ten minutes of the second half, we almost fell asleep. Al-Rayyan exploited that and controlled proceedings then but we managed to score and I think that after the fourth goal, we found that Al-Rayyan had surrendered. This helped us to get a result like that.”

“The 5-0 result does not reflect what happened in the game because there was a competitive nature to it during some parts. But in the end, Al-Sadd’s attack was always dangerous.”

Asked if he would want to postpone Al-Sadd’s league games so as to focus on the AFC Champions League, Ferreira said: “Al-Sadd is thinking about the AFC Champions League and the league at the same time. We have a delayed game to be played now and if more matches are delayed, I don’t know when we will play them. From my point of view, I think it’s better not to call up the Al-Sadd players for the national team’s international friendlies to reduce the strain no them. They are performing a national duty by competing for the AFC Champions League title.”

As for the effect of fatigue on his players, the coach said: “The Clasico games are always a treat for the players because they are played in front of a lot of fans. This gets rid of fatigue because of the desire of the player to perform at his best. And so, fatigue had no real effect on the players in today’s game and the proof is the 5-0 win.”

Finally, he remarked: “Also, playing with long balls helped us to overcome fatigue. This is a philosophy that we use when we have to deal with such situations throughout the course of a season.”