Al Sadd coach Xavi Hernandez said, “The final means a lot to us at Al Sadd. Our team has the potential to win this title and our training was good. We played excellently in the semifinal against Al Rayyan. That perhaps was our best match so far this season. We want to win a second cup, after Sheikh Jassim Cup (Super Cup). We have outstanding players. We know that Al Duhail are one of the best teams in Asia and that the match will be difficult, but we will be ready for it.

“I trust my players and we want to provide the same level that we provided in the last match. The statistics this season indicate that Al Sadd had an advantage over Al Duhail, but the final is different. We will enter the field to win the title. We respect Al Duhail, we know that it is a very strong team. They have won many titles in the last 10 seasons and it will be a difficult confrontation. But we are not worried and we are ready for it.

“Rui Faria is a great coach and I respect him a lot. He is doing a great job, he has a lot of experience having worked with Jose Mourinho. My relationship with him is good and we are friends.”

“Yes, I received an offer from Barcelona, but I did not agree with that offer because I see that it is too early to go now. I dream of training them one day, but the time has not come yet. My family was the first to know about my decision. Then Al Sadd players, I respect them a lot. For the past three days, I was not at the top of my focus because I was thinking about that offer, but now my focus is on Al Sadd and I will stay here until the end of my contract (end of this season). After that, nobody knows how things will go.

“Before the Al Rayyan game, I had mentioned that it was a revenge game because they beat us in the league. Now, we will face Al Duhail that won against us in our last face-off even though the games are different. We will now fight to beat one of the strongest teams in Asia. We need our fans support as well,” said Xavi.

Hassan Al Haydous said, “The match will be difficult because we will face one of the best teams in Asia. It is certain that reaching a high level is difficult, but it is more tough to maintain it. We hope we maintain the level that we showed in our last two games and our target is to put in all our efforts to win the title to make our fans happy.”