Al Duhail coach Hernan Crespo spoke to the media ahead of their 2022-2023 season QNB Stars League Week 18 match against Al Sailiya.

“A tricky match comes after we won the first championship in the season (Ooredoo Cup) and we must now focus on the league matches and maintaining the lead.

“All clubs facing us are motivated to come out with a good result against us and statistics indicate that the Al Sailiya match will be difficult despite the clear advantage for the players of our team. I trust in their ability to provide the performance required of them and we know that the Al Sailiya team changed the coaching staff, which will give the players a morale boost. Besides, we do not know the technical strategy of the new coach.

“I am happy to have won the Ooredoo Cup because the tournament began in the absence of our international players and we relied on young players to whom we gave the opportunity. And they succeeded in appearing well and contributed clearly to this coronation,” said Crespo.

Al Duhail player Mohammed Muntari said, “The team is ready to face Al Sailiya. Once again, we return to the league matches and there is a match against Al Sailiya. It will be a step on our way to achieving the league title and we are ready for it after the series of training that we had after the end of our match against Umm Salal in the Ooredoo Cup final.

“We know that the remaining matches for us in the league will not be easy, but this makes us more determined to achieve positive results in order to win the league title.

“The coming period will include a number of matches in various tournaments and that does not cause us any problems as the technical staff have prepared the players well.”