Al Rayyan coach Laurent Blanc spoke to the media ahead of their 2021-2022 season QNB Stars League Week 11 match against Al Shamal.

“We need to win this match. There is pressure on us due to our defeat against Qatar SC in the last round, during which we lacked discipline and strength.

“We want to regain our strength, because in football and sports in general, if you do not have strength and discipline, it is difficult to achieve results and we missed it. For the next match, we do not have enough time to prepare, but I spoke a lot with the players and told them that if they did not have discipline on the field, it is difficult to get the result.

“I am also very sad due to the loss against Qatar SC. Our team is suffering from many injuries. Some players’ country duty too affected us.

“We need to be back on the winning path as soon as possible. I talked about this with the players and everyone agreed with me that we have to do more and more. I repeat that, in all the previous matches, we did not have the full squad. The situation is same now with many injuries. I must say that if you do not have the winning mentality, it is difficult to achieve victory,” said Blanc.

Al Rayyan player Naif Al Hadrami said, “We have the ability to overcome this situation by achieving victory over Al Shamal. We can thus regain our confidence which we lost after losing to Qatar SC.

“The Al Shamal match will not be easy for us and the players’ goal is to achieve victory.”