League leaders Lekhwiya take on Al Wakrah. In the absence of coach Djamel Belmadi, young midfielder Assim Madibo gave his thoughts to the media on the match.

Opening up the press conference Madibo noted that his side must be at full concentration against relegation threatened Al Wakrah. “We are playing a tough match against a side who are fighting for survival. The game last time out was a draw against Al Wakrah so we have to be fully ready in this game.”

Lekhwiya took a five point lead at the top of the QSL standings, and the Qatar U23 midfielder insisted that it’s a big psychological win for his side. “The win against Al Sadd was a big boost, everyone is fully focused on Al Wakrah now, but that win was a huge step for us.”

Despite leading the league, Madibo stressed that his side are focusing on a game by game basis. “There is a long way to go for the title, but we are progressing well. We are taking each game at a time, as a team our only focus is to get three points from every game right now, we are focused on winning the title back.”



Al Wakrah head into their clash with the league leaders in desperate need of a result. The Blue Waves are currently in thirteenth place in the QSL standings, and are in danger of losing ground on their relegation rivals. Tunisian coach Kais Yâakoubi spoke with the media ahead of the Sunday evening match. 

“It’s always a tough game against Lekhwiya, but this is not an impossible task to get points. We have played well against big teams in the league and have taken points of Al Sadd and El Jaish. We have to give our best, and I am expecting a reaction from my players” remarked Yâakoubi when asked about the challenge of taking on the league leaders. 

Yâakoubi was also eager to note that the pressure is on the current league leaders.“Lekhwiya are a tough side to play, but they have weaknesses and we will be looking to exploit these. The pressure is on Lekhwiya also not just us, they are looking at the title our aim is to pull us out of trouble.” 

“The absences of Yusef Msakni and El Arabi will not make a difference for me, Lekhwiya have a strong bench and have done well without those players, winning their last two games” added the Tunisian coach during the Saturday morning press conference. 

Yâakoubi  ended his press conference issuing a rallying cry, stressing that his side are not giving up. “I am the leader of the team, I don’t give up. I am encouraging my players every day on the training pitch, and we have to keep positive. We are not giving up we have ten games to play, and everything is still in our hands. I am sure that Lekhwiya will have to fight if they want to come away with some points from this game.”