Al Duhail coach Djamel Belmadi spoke to the media ahead of their 2025-2026 Doha Bank Stars League Week 13 match against Al Wakrah.

“All matches are difficult. Al Wakrah are a well-balanced and effective team. We must strive to deliver strong performances and achieve a positive result, we have no other option.

“Since the beginning of the season, the team has suffered several significant absences. We have certainly been affected by these absences, but my role as a coach is to manage the available players. The squad will see the return of Adel Boulbina, Karim Boudiaf and Marco Verratti for the upcoming match, in addition to Salah Zakaria’s recent return from injury. These are positive indicators for delivering strong performances in the coming period,” said Belmadi.

Al Duhail goalkeeper Salah Zakaria said, “We will strive to perform as required and deliver a better performance than we did in our last match. This is our second match in the second leg of the season and we will try to win the three points.

“We have already dropped enough points in previous matches and we hope that the Al Wakrah match will be the game that gets us back on track.”