Al Arabi coach Younes Ali and player Yousef Muftah spoke to the media ahead of their 2023-2024 season Ooredoo Cup final against Umm Salal, to be played on Saturday, January 6, 2024.

Younes Ali said, “We started the tournament seriously, the players have done well and now we are in the final which will be a tough one but we will show a good level of performance in the final. And since you have reached the final, you want to win it.

“Umm Salal are a distinguished team and have been playing good matches since the beginning of the season, especially in the Ooredoo Cup. They are playing a full professional team, they are doing well. They are one of the teams we thought would make it to the final, and now they have reached there and I think they will try to do well against us. I think it is 50-50 in the final.

“We have many new faces who have proved their worth during this tournament. The team has promised me that they will do their best to win the cup and make Al Arabi fans happy.”

“We will be missing Yousef Msakni, Marco Verratti and Abdou Diallo, who are nursing injuries, in addition to the presence of a number of our players with the national team, such as Jassim Jaber and Ahmed Fathi but we have other players who will take up the opportunity and do well in the final.”

“We are on the right path. The team’s mentality has changed from playing on rebounds and reactions, and the team has become one that imposes its style and personality. I am satisfied with the performance in many matches, but I am not satisfied with some of the results, yet we are still looking forward to appearing in the best way. We are aiming for more reinforcements, especially in terms of local players, and the completion of our ranks as well after we lost a number of players due to many injuries.”

Yousef Muftah said, “The coach was keen to rotate players at the beginning during the tournament to give everyone an opportunity but after reaching the knockout rounds the focus has been on achieving the goal of winning the cup.

“All our players will be extremely focused during the final and will put in all their efforts to achieve victory and the title. We hope that we will succeed and give off our best throughout the 90 minutes and achieve victory.”