Al Gharafa coach Pedro Martins spoke to the media ahead of their 2024-2025 season Ooredoo Stars League Week 6 match against Al Sadd.

“As you know, we played the last match on Sunday and we another day to recover physically and psychologically with some instructions to what we wanted to do during the match, and one day to work on the tactical and strategic sides of the match.

“It will be a difficult match and we expect Al Sadd to be at their best. Al Sadd usually do not play two bad matches, so we are waiting for the best from the opponents. We want to win and will fight for that, it will be an interesting match.

“Rodrigo and Madibo are absent due to injury and there are doubts about Jang Hyun-Soo’s participation.

“At some moments we did not play well or the results were not good, but we feel that they are with us all the time because they know that we as a team can come back again and everyone understands that. I am sure that this team will perform better than we did last season, I am sure that we will finish the season better, this is what I expect and what we can promise our fans, and our matches will improve day after day,” said Martins.

Al Gharafa captain Ferjani Sassi said, “Although the team did not have enough time to recover physically and psychologically, we are capable of winning such matches and appearing well. We all know that Al Sadd are a big team and will seek to compensate, but we also won the match against Qatar SC and we seek to keep winning.

“Each match has its own character. Al Sadd always aspire to win and they are a big team with its own character, but we will try to take advantage of their recent loss and win.

“I thank our fans who supported the players a lot last season and believed in what the team was offering. Although the results were not good at the beginning of the season, their support for us, on and off the pitch, was always a great incentive for us. We promise them that we will fight at the stadium.”