Victor Vazquez has been holding the Umm Salal midfield together since the start of this season when he made a switch from Al Arabi, where he joined in January this year.

The vastly-experienced Spaniard belonged to the iconic Class of 1987 team of FC Barcelona’s famous La Masia academy that included future first-team players Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas and Gerard Pique.

Vazquez gave his take on many topics in an exclusive interview with qsl.qa.

Umm Salal is your second team in Qatar, after Al Arabi whom you joined in January. How do you find it?

Yes. Umm Salal coach Raul Caneda requested the Al Arabi management for me and I decided to move for a new challenge. I knew Umm Salal was a smaller club, but now I find it interesting playing for them and the people around are very nice.

What difference do you see in your game while playing for Umm Salal?

It’s very similar to Al Arabi in my opinion. But you can feel that in Umm Salal, you’ve less pressure because Al Arabi always want to be in the top four. So you can play with more freedom. However, at the end of the day, it’s all same as you’ve to win games to help your team.

How balanced is the Umm Salal team this season?

I think we’ve a great group of guys. We didn’t start well, but then we faced three of the best teams in the league. We could’ve done better against Al Khor, but football is like that.

Umm Salal haven’t won a match yet. How soon do you think it’ll happen?

Yes. We haven’t yet won, but like I said till now we faced big teams and against Al Khor we didn’t play well. Now, we face Al Wakrah and Al Shahania in the coming rounds. We must take six points and show we’re back in business.

How do you approach your match against Al Wakrah in Week 5 of the QNB Stars League?

It’s going to be a really interesting game for us mainly because we can see how far we can go this season. Also, it’s a chance to win our first match. It’ll be special also because I’ve played with Al Wakrah’s Isaias Sanchez when we were really young. I’ve a great relationship with their coach Marquez (Lopez) as well.

Are you having any special preparations for this game?

Nothing special for me. Every game has the same value (three points).

What’re the team’s target/targets this season?

Honestly, we’ll see how this season goes. For me, we’ve to do it much better than right now.

How do the players find the coaching of Caneda?

The players have 100 per cent confidence in him. Of course, the results weren’t what we wanted so far, but we trust in the coach and technical staff. We do hope good moments are coming.

Which team do you think will win the QNB Stars League shield this season?

I think Al Sadd have more chance, but like I said every team is improving a lot. Good luck to everyone and keep enjoying the QNB Stars League! It’s so great to play here.