Umm Salal coach Aziz Ben Askar spoke to the media ahead of their 2020-21 season QNB Stars League Week 11 match against Al Gharafa.

“Al Gharafa are strong competitors and one of the two best teams in the league this season, not just because they are ranked second in the table. We are preparing strongly of course because it will be a strong match. We work hard every day and this is most important to me.

“In our current situation, every point is important. We put up a strong performance in our drawn match against Al Sailiya, who are good opponents. For us, there is no easy match. All matches are difficult.

“We entered the current season with the aim of remaining in the QNB Stars League. As I said earlier, this season will not be easy as we are building a new team and therefore it is not easy to achieve positive results at the beginning.

“The point we scored against Al Sailiya gives us confidence and makes us believe in our project and the work we do every day.

“All points are important for us. We, as usual, focus on ourselves, and for us every match is a point and we need to work until the last minute of every match we play. I remind the players to focus throughout the game,” said Ben Askar.

Umm Salal goalkeeper Sami Habib said, “I am happy to play as the main goalkeeper of the team. I was nervous in the first match, but my team-mates stood by me and gave me more confidence.

“We played a good game against Al Sailiya and the two teams deserved the point. Now, we will face Al Gharafa and I expect the match to be strong, but we aspire to win the three points, especially since we have been achieving good results of late.”