Match Kick-Off 19:45pm on Sunday the 18th of October at Al Sadd stadium.
 
Lekhwiya Head Coach Djamel Belmadi                     
Our next game is against Arabi. They are a famous club and they want to win trophies. They have  started well this season. They have lost only one game, their last one against Gharafa and that too by a small margin. Like I have always said, there are no easy games for me in this league. We have one more tough game now. We are playing five games in a row in a vey short time. There will be many tough games. This is the first and we will focus on getting a good result out of this.
 
We have a lot of international players, almost 9-11. We also have foreign players who play for their national sides. During each international break, we are in trouble because we have a maximum of five players staying with me.It's difficult to manage but this is the price to pay for when you are with a big club. If you go to Barcelona or Real Madrid, it's the same problem.

It my problem and I say that because I am the only coach in this situation. Arabi has only Khoukhi Boualem in the national team. So the coach can train with most of his players. It's an advantage in one way to have your full squad to work with. You had 17 days with the team correcting the mistakes. But on the other side, it's also good to have your players facing international competition. Weiss played in the Euro qualifiers and his team qualified. It's good to play teams like Ukraine and Spain. The local players were also part of the Asian Cup. The only issue is with the players who are called up to the national side but they don't get to play. But I hope we can deal with that and it won't be a problem for us.

 
Zola was a fantastic player. Don't need to tell you that. As a coach, he did well in UK, with the Championship teams, earning them promotion to the Premier League. But he hasn't spend a lot of time in the Premier League. He has good knowledge of football and I respect him a lot. But we are in Qatar. Of course we need always to learn and have humility. But I know what I have. I know my team. We will see what happens during the match. Coaches are important but the key is always the players. Its Arabi vs Lekhwiya and not Zola vs Belmadi.
 

 
Al Arabi Head Coach Gianfranco Zola                       
This is a very important game for us. It's the first of three tough matches for us. We play Lekhwiya, Rayyan and then Sadd. It's a good test. We have been working well as a unit so far and now we ill get a chance to see our level. Everybody has to understand that we are working to get to our highest level of football.

Lekhwiya are on a different level as compared to us right now. But we want to be competitive. I welcome this game. If you ask me what I feel about this game, I will tell you that it's curiosity. We are playing the champions tomorrow and it will show us where we stand as a team. 
 
Tomorrow is only the fifth game of the season. This is a marathon, not a race. The will be  important games that we need to win. But whether we win or lose tomorrow, that will be a lesson for my team. We need to get to the level of Lekhwiya or Sadd. That's a work in progress for us. It's an important match but it's not the most important game of the season.
 
My objective is to make this team better every day. when I play against teams like Lekhwiya I am not looking at three points. I am looking to build a team that can win game after game for a long period. Tomorrow I will evaluate the weakeneses in my team. And then work to make our team stronger. So that when we play Lekhwiya the next time, we will be bette prepared. That's my target at this moment. 
 
Its an important game but not a crucial game. If you win against the champions everyone will get a big boost in terms of confidence and belief in what we can do. Aziz Sulaiti won't be available. Yousuf Ahmed has a niggle and Dame Traore picked up an injury against Gharafa. We will evaluate them ahead of the match.
 
Khoukhi has been the best player for Arabi this season. I am happy that he's doing well for the national team. He plays in a different position for them. We had a chat with him at the beginning of the season. Since then his attitude in training is outstanding. I will give 10/10 to Khoukhi. He trains hard and his good performance is all down to his work ethics.