Al Wakrah coach Marquez Lopez spoke to the media ahead of their 2022-2023 season QNB Stars League Week 18 match against Al Sadd.

“We are well aware that we will face a strong team in Al Sadd, who have distinguished players in all departments and are led by good technical staff led by Spaniard Juanma. We also realize that Al Sadd in this match will be very different from the Al Sadd that we faced in the first leg because they did not have the services of their international players in the first seven weeks of league championship.

“I do not fear for my team from the recent downtime for several reasons, the first being that it was a short period and the second is that it gave us a full opportunity to take a breath and prepare for the next matches. After our preparations for the matches were limited to only three days, our preparation for the next game reached nearly two weeks to focus on many important matters within the team,” said Marquez.

Al Wakrah player Omar Ali said, “I hope that all members of the team will be able to implement the instructions of the technical staff during the match against Al Sadd.

“We are ready for the game, ready to follow the coach’s instructions and fully focused on the match, and I assure that if we follow the coach’s instructions to focus on the upcoming matches, we will be able to be in the top four.

“My level is good with the team and although I did not play for a long time, I focus on making the maximum possible efforts during the time that the coach gives me.”