Al Rayyan coach Laurent Blanc and player Franck Kom spoke to the media ahead of their 2020-21 Qatar Cup semifinal against Al Sadd.

“I can confidently say that my team will work hard to achieve victory over Al Sadd. I hope that the team will be at its best in this difficult match. Qatar Cup matches are always full of excitement and there’s no room for complacency. Either you win and continue the journey, or you lose and exit the competition.

“We took advantage of the break in the league, as it helped our injured players recover. I was concerned about playing two very strong matches with Al Sadd and Al Duhail in a short period of time, especially against Al Sadd, as it’s a big match.

“We aren’t a weak team, but we won’t claim that we’re better than other teams as Al Sadd and Al Duhail are the only two teams that can be deemed to be better than others. Personally, I would’ve liked to face Al Sadd and Al Duhail but not now, but rather later because we still have to work a lot until the desired results are achieved.

“Yacine Brahimi suffers from injury he picked up earlier, so I decided to rest him for necessary treatment. He’s now on way to recovery and he’ll be in the squad, but his participation will be my decision.

“Al Sadd match is a very big challenge for our team and in Qatar Cup matches, it is not always the best that wins. Qatar Cup matches are associated with surprises. It does not bother us that Al Sadd are the strongest candidates for a win, but we’ll work to obtain surprise results,” said Blanc.

Match difficult and decisive: Al Rayyan player Kom

Kom said, “The match is difficult and decisive, and we’ve to play it with great strength and focus. We’ve to fight it with full strength and high spirit and I hope that we’ll achieve victory in this match.

Undoubtedly Al Sadd are one of the best teams in the league currently, but we’ll fight to do our best and achieve the desired result.

“We’ll play this match to win and qualify for the final. That’s our goal. What worries me about Al Sadd are many things – they have many strengths, but the ball is in our court and we’ve to find the appropriate way to stop them. We’ve to be on top of our game. I’m happy to be playing with Al Rayyan and work under great coach Laurent Blanc. I have learnt a lot from him because he has great experience as a player and in coaching as well.”