Al Gharafa coach Andrea Stramaccioni spoke to the media ahead of their 2021-2022 season QNB Stars League Week 8 match against Al Wakrah.

“My players are looking forward to our next match against Al Wakrah which comes in the wake of the great victory over Al Khor in the last round. It will be a challenging task against a team that offers a good level.

“I expect it to be a great match because Al Wakrah have a good coach and their players have been playing together for years. You can see through their matches that players know each other well.

“When it comes to Al Wakrah, they have also not changed much over the years even at the level of foreign professionals. They were joined by Omid Ebrahimi, who I know because he was in Esteghlal, and (Ousmane) Coulibaly, who I wanted to include in the Panathinaikos team. They are players with experience and I see them as a cohesive team.

“This match will be different from the previous two clashes we have played and I think that my team is more focused. We want to avoid mistakes so we have greater chances of winning,” said Stramaccioni.

Al Gharafa player Yousef Hassan said, “My teammates have eyes on another win after we beat Al Khor in the last round. It was an important match and it was necessary to get the three points. Thank God, we managed to get what we wanted.

“Facing Al Wakrah will be a continuation of the difficult matches Al Gharafa are playing in this phase. We will give off our best. They have quality players but our focus is on the team as a whole. We are playing this season in a new way and we hope to continue to achieve victories.”