Al Shahania coach Jose Murcia spoke to the media ahead of their 2019-20 QNB Stars League Week 13 match against Al Sadd.

“It is a difficult and undoubtedly an important game. We will play against the best team in Qatar actually. They won against Al Khor with difficulty because they were returning from the celebrations of their 2020 Qatar Cup triumph.

“I think Al Sadd have now forgotten the big victory in Qatar Cup and focus on the match against us and that makes it difficult. We must focus to be strong in defence as Al Sadd will try to keep achieving positive results. We have nothing to fear, we must forget our defeat against Al Sadd in the first leg and I am fully confident in the capabilities of our players.

“Ahmed Akaichi, the Tunisian player, is ready to play after the injury in the last game and he is the striker we needed.

“There is a balance between the lines in the team. I need to strengthen the position of goalkeeper.

“We must not make mistakes against Al Sadd. We must make use of opportunities for counter-attacks. When you look at results achieved by Al Sadd in recent matches, you find that they won by biger margins against strong teams such as Al Gharafa, Al Arabi, Al Rayyan and Al Dahil. That is why we must be careful while playing against them,” said Murcia.

Al Shahania player Nigel de Jong said, “The league is in a very difficult stage and it is not necessary that the big teams achieve victories. The tournament’s level is improving and we have seen Al Sadd beat Al Khor with difficulty.

“All teams facing Al Sadd are finding difficulties, but we have to trust ourselves and give off our best in order to get a positive result.”