Al Duhail coach Sabri Lamouchi spoke to the media ahead of their 2020-21 season QNB Stars League Week 16 match against Al Rayyan.

“Everyone knows that our match against Al Rayyan will not be easy as we just ended our participation in the FIFA Club World Cup and are back in the league again. Before the Club World Cup, we had played a difficult match against Qatar SC which ended in a draw.

“Now, we face Al Rayyan. The matches between Al Duhail and Al Rayyan are always competitive, especially since Al Rayyan are coming from three consecutive victories, which indicates that coach Laurent Blanc is doing a great job with them and certainly that will make our job difficult on the field.

“Mathematically, there are three points to win from this match, but when you face your direct competitor in the table, the victory is worth six points because you stop your direct competitor and you move up.

“We will soon reach a difficult phase of the season with the pressure of competitions such as the Amir Cup, Qatar Cup and AFC Champions League, and it will not be easy without the co-operation of all members of the squad,” said Lamouchi.

Al Duhail player Ali Karimi said, “I have confidence in our ability to achieve a positive result against Al Rayyan. We are facing one of the most important and biggest teams in Qatar — Al Rayyan. It requires us to be at a good level and achieve a good result.

“The coming period will see much pressure with a number of tournaments, but I assure everyone that we will strive hard for victory in all matches and competitions.”