Al Shamal coach David Racero spoke to the media ahead of their 2024-2025 season Ooredoo Stars League Week 12 match against Al Sadd.

“We worked at Al Sadd for a while and Al Sadd was like our family and we have friends there, but at the same time we are excited for the upcoming match and look forward to achieving the best possible result.

“We realize that facing Al Sadd is difficult in view of the strength of the competitors who include players at the highest level and I consider them one of the best teams in the Qatar league, but we will play to achieve a positive result and collect the three points to continue competing for the best possible positions in the league table.

“We must be prepared to deal with all situations on the field during the match,” said Racero.

Al Shamal player Baghdad Bounedjah said, “We look forward to presenting the best in the second leg of the league and after the recent break.

“We are waiting for a difficult match against a big team that we respect and we seek to achieve a positive result against them, just as we succeeded in doing during the first-leg match. The match will be difficult like all matches against a team of the size and strength of Al Sadd, but the Al Shamal players will do their utmost to present a good performance and achieve the desired result.”