The second 2015 Emir Cup semi-final will pit the top two teams of Qatar against each other.  Sadd & Lekhwiya will face each other in the Champions League Round of 16 as well.

Al Sadd has not won any trophies this season and the Emir Cup provides them with a great chance to finish on a winning note. “It’s the end of the season and we haven’t won any titles so far. At Al Sadd we play for titles. So we have no choice but to win this game and then go on and win the title,” said Al Sadd head coach Hussein Ammota yesterday.

“We are facing Lekhwiya, winners of the league and the 2015 Qatar Cup. It will be a difficult match but not impossible for us to go on and win the title and defend our trophy which we won last year,” he added.

In previous round against Al Khor, Al Sadd had an unconvincing first half performance but they came back strongly in the second half. Ammota knows that his team will not get second chances against Lekhwiya. “In the game against Al Khor we started very badly. However in the second half we reacted well and scored early. We had the character to come back. But you don’t get such chances too often. Against Lekhwiya it will be better for us to score early and then try and go from there. We made a lot of tactical mistakes against Al Khor. If we commit those mistakes against Lekhwiya then we will not be able to win,” said Ammota.

Al Sadd will be without the services of their star striker Ibrahim Khalfan and defender Ibrahim Majid but coach Ammota believes that his team will benefit from the pressure. “We at Al Sadd have a lot of pressure. But this is going to give adrenaline to the players to play well in such an important match. Lekhwiya are definitely the favorites going into this match. They have won the league comfortably, won the Qatar Cup, finished top of the table in their Asian Champions League campaign where they face us next.” 



With two titles in the bag, winning another one will be another feather in Coach Michael Laudrup’s cap.

“We are looking forward to the last 11 days in the competition. We play this semi-final against Al Sadd. We play two more games against them in the AFC Champions League. These are big, big games for us. This is the best season in the club’s history so far. We have a chance to go from a great season to a historic season in these 11 days,” said Laudrup yesterday.

The Lekhwiya coach also stressed that his team was ready for this match. “In very important games we have played without some key players but have still done well. That shows that we have 3 0r 4 subs who have come in and done well. This shows that the team is united and is also ready mentally.”

All of this adds up to provide a captivating narrative to today’s semifinal clashes. One team that is banking on team work to upset the applecart, another one keen to prove that they belong to the top rank of clubs here in Qatar, a powerhouse looking at this as a chance to win a trophy and the favorites trying to turn this into a ‘historic’ season.