Xavi: Al-Duhail clash will be the toughest in the league

7 August 2020

Al-Sadd head coach Xavi Hernandez stressed on the difficulty of his side’s upcoming clash with Al Duhail in Round 20 of the QNB Stars League.

Speaking during the pre-match press conference, Xavi said: “The Al-Duhail match will be one of the most difficult here in the league; we are facing the table toppers, so it’s a really tough game but as always, we are ready and we have good momentum. Al-Sadd is the only team that won the two matches after the break.”

The coach added: “Of course we will miss players like Akram Afif, who is a very important player for us, but we are ready to compete and we are positive. We want to keep our chances alive until the end, even though we know it’s really tough to win the league. At the end, we want to win this game and have many options until the end.”

Xavi also spoke about the team’s mentality: “We are always ready, we are Al Sadd and we are a winning team. We have a winning mentality. Yes, we have Duhail ahead of us, they are the league leaders and it will be a really difficult game, but we will try to do our best to get the three points.”

“We want to dominate the game, have the possession and be aggressive in attack and defense, but also we have to take care against Al-Duhail, who have really good players in front.”

Regarding the impact of Akram Afif’s absence from the team, the coach said: “We will try to reduce the time needed for Akram (to return). He is one of the best players in Asia and in my opinion, he is the best in Qatar, but it’s okay, we have to continue working and must keep going. Thanks to God, we have a large group of players, but of course we will miss him.”