Al Wakrah coach Marquez Lopez spoke to the media ahead of their 2021-2022 season QNB Stars League Week 1 match against Al Arabi.

“We have reached a high technical and physical level for this match. I am happy with the team’s preparations for the new season in general. The strong mentality of my players helped me get them ready for the new season.

“All players gave a strong performance during the pre-season training and adhered to all health and safety instructions. I am very happy with the preparations in general, starting with the training camp and when we played the friendly matches. For me, the preparations were excellent for the beginning of the league.

“We seek to achieve good results this season. After we returned to the First Division, we had a satisfying season. In the second year, our goal was to move forward, take another step forward, but there were difficulties that forced us to the eighth place. We reached the Ooredoo Cup final and you know what happened. The focus now is on climbing up the points table to the farthest point.

“This year is better than last year, of course. We brought in good players from Al Sadd and Al Duhail. I think they are better at the technical level. I am happy with the arrival of the two new players - Gelson Dalla and Omid Ebrahimi. They are special players and I am very happy with the team picks for the new season,” said Marquez.

Al Wakrah player Ahmed Fadel said, “For all teams, the beginning of the season is very important. We hope that we have a good start so that we can continue with the same distinguished performance like we did last year. I feel that Al Arabi are one of the better teams who have prepared strongly for the new season. They are a strong team with very good players. We played many strong friendlies during the pre-season training camp. It was good for the players and the coach to appear in these matches because we learned from our mistakes.”