Al Sadd coach Jesualdo Ferreira spoke to the media ahead of their QNB Stars League Week 14 match against Al Gharafa.

“Taking on Al Gharafa is difficult because they are now a transformed side after recruiting star players such as Wesley Sneijder and Mehdi Taremi. The changes have yielded positive results for them as they won two consecutive matches and made progress in the table.

“Al Gharafa are strong opponents despite being in the sixth position and they gave us a tough fight before going down when we met in the first phase. I hope we repeat our domination of them this time too.

“We have depth in the squad to make up for the absence of some players through injuries. We are trying to strike a balance as we have the AFC Champions League matches too coming up.

“We are so happy about the return of left-back Abdelkarim Hassan (after loan to Belgian club KAS Eupen) and right-back Hamed Ismail (from Al Arabi). They have come back richer by experience and can inspire fellow players just like Spanish great Xavi Hernandez does,” said Ferreira.