Al Rayyan coach Leonardo Jardim spoke to the media ahead of their 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League Week 21 match against Al Ahli.

“We have reached the penultimate match of the league and the top four has already been decided, and the competition for the title remains. This stage will determine who are the champions of this competition. There is a great competition to obtain the title.

“We work every week and before each match we prepare the team and the available players, and the match will be in our stadium, so it will be a great responsibility on our shoulders to play in order to win this game.

“Every round has its own different calculations. Al Ahli lost by a big score in the last match, so I expect that they will play differently to appear better and we must respect the opponents in order to win this match,” said Jardim.

Al Rayyan player Rodrigo Tabata said, “It will be a very difficult match and the opponents must be respected. They suffered a big loss in the last round, so we must be careful and I have great confidence in our team to achieve victory in this important match in the league championship.

“The league championship is still mathematically on the field and we will play to win and wait for the result of the Al Shamal vs Al Sadd match. If Al Shamal win, the match against Al Sadd in Week 22 will be a final match for us and this will be an exciting thing for the league and the fans, so we must preserve our chances and continue working until the end.”