Al Gharafa coach Bulent Uygun spoke to the media ahead of their QNB Stars League Week 18 match against Al Markhiya.

“We have done a good job in the AFC Champions League and I congratulate my players for that. In the process, we have made our fans too happy.

“Coming to the match against Al Markhiya, our target is the fourth place in the QNB Stars League and thus qualify for the Qatar Cup. For that, victory against Al Markhiya is important as we are still in the sixth position in the table.

“We will continue to work hard and hopefully, we should get some good results. Our players are doing well both in training and matches. We will sorely miss injured defender Almahdi Ali. But we have many good players such as (Wesley) Sneijder, Mehdi Taremi, Muad Hassan and Ahmed Alaaeldin…

“We have specific game plan for each game. We will try to change players so that they get adequate rest in between the matches.
“I am obliged to do that. Al Duhail, Al Sadd and Al Rayyan are also doing that. That is normal. We play in the AFC Champions League with almost 70 per cent of our core team,” said Bulent.