Al Duhail coach Djamal Belmadi spoke to the media ahead of his team’s Week 8 match against Al Gharafa.

“Every team needs to win. We focused during the past period on relaxing and restoring the team’s fitness before this difficult match. We will strive with all our might to come out with a positive result. We know very well the strengths and weaknesses of each team. Al Gharafa has (Ferjani) Sassi and (Yacine) Brahimi, who are great players who played in the World Cup and have great experience, but our focus will be on the whole team and not specific players.

“Winning the Best Coach of the Month award last month is the result of team work, not individual effort. I am happy with the award, but this is the work of the entire team, as I mentioned,” said Belmadi.

Al Duhail goalkeeper Bautista Burki said, “We have undergone recovery procedures to get back in shape before the match and we will strive to win.

“Everyone here knows that we are striving to win the league and we have to expect such tough matches in order to reach the top. We faced Al Shamal and beat them, and now we have to overcome Al Gharafa.”