Umm Salal coach Aziz Ben Askar spoke to the media ahead of their 2020-21 season QNB Stars League Week 18 match against Al Sadd.

“Nobody needs to know the strength of Al Sadd. Everyone knows their team and we know that they are strong. We respect our identity and respect our plans. We need to respect work and preparation for this match. This means that we must be patient but fight against them.

“Our team is currently in a difficult position and we are in the lower positions on the points table. Everyone is struggling to achieve his goals. We all know that the last matches of the league are difficult and we will remain in the highest degree of focus until the end in this match and we must do that. 

“Right now, we're going step by step and we need to focus on ourselves. It is not difficult for any coach to play against a team like Al Sadd as the incentive is there to do well. The players want to prove to everyone that we have prepared well.

“Things were not easy for us in the last match as we played without three foreign players. As everyone knows, we, at Umm Salal, do not have a large group of players like Al Sadd and this is sometimes normal, and this is the difference between the big teams and other teams. Al Sadd won everything this season. As I said from the beginning, everything depends on us,” said Ben Askar.

Umm Salal player Mohammad Haris said, “After the last matches we played in succession, we needed a rest period, and I think it was a positive period for us, as players. And after returning from the rest, we returned with more enthusiasm to prepare for the next game.

“Everyone knows that the match is big and decisive for Al Sadd. For us, we need points in order to move away from the relegation zone. Al Sadd need points to get the league shield, so I expect the match to be strong.”