facebooktwittertelegramwhatsapp
copy short urlprintemail
+ A
A -
webmaster
Ayeni Olusegun
Doha
Al Sadd will face a more difficult Al Duhail when the two sides clash on Saturday at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium for the Sheikh Jassim Cup, according Wolves coach Xavi Hernandez. Al Sadd beat their local rivals 4-2 on aggregate in the AFC Champions League Round of 16 on Tuesday to book a place in the semi-final and Xavi believes the Red Knights will be out for revenge on Saturday.
“We qualified for the Champions League quarter-final but we face Duhail again. It will be more difficult because they’ll want to take revenge and football gives opportunities like this.
“If we don’t give our 100 percent, we won’t be able to win titles. We managed to reach the next stage in the Champions League because we were able to do just that. And so, we need to keep giving our best in the Super Cup in order to win the title,” Xavi told the media on Thursday.
Al Sadd will be without trio Baghdad Bounedjah, Hamed Ismail and Tareq Salman who are serving suspensions from the Amir Cup final. The league champions and the Amir Cup holders have met four times in four months and Saturday’s clash will be their third in 11 days.
“We will miss three players – Bounedjah, Ismail and Salman – due to suspension. It will be our third game against Al Duhail in 11 days.
“We want to dominate the game, apply pressure up the field and turn defence into attack. We need to keep going and forget about our previous matches. The present is Al Duhail again and we need to be mentally focused,” the Spaniard said.
Victory over Al Duhail on Tuesday also confirmed Al Sadd’s participation in this year’s FIFA Club World Cup to hosted in Doha. Xavi, having won the trophy in the 2011 edition with Barcelona said, “It’s a good achievement for us to play the Club World Cup. Some players here have played in the competition like Hassan al Haydos back in 2011 against Barcelona. Now the younger players have the chance and we are positive about that.”
Xavi was also full of praise for 22-year-old star Akram Afif. The Qatar Footballer of the Year, scored two goals against Duhail in the Champions League and has formed a strong partnership with Algerian Bounedjah in attack
“Afif is one of the best players in Qatar. He’s been making the difference since he came here from Spain. He’s a really good player who was able to play in the Spanish League. We are happy to have him in the team.”
Al Duhail coach Rui Faria has however, refuted revenge as motive going into Saturday’s match. The Portuguese said his team is hurt by the by the loss on Tuesday but it doesn’t change their mentality.
“My team is hurt for sure. We are used to winning but the fact that we were knocked out of the Champions League doesn’t change our mentality. My team would want to do their best anyway not because of the loss but because they want to compete. I’ll be worried if they don’t think that way but it’s not about revenge,” Faria said.
The Red Knights will be without the injured Mehdi Benatia and Almoez Ali who is suspended for the tie.
“The opponents are the same but this is a different challenge. We need to understand what happened in the past and prepare. We will miss important players just like Al Sadd, so we’ll see who’s available to play. The most important thing is the focus, ambition and determination. It’s 11 against 11 and we’ll do our best to achieve our objective.”
Duhail midfielder Ali Afif who will come up against his younger brother Akram said Duhail have the winning mentality.
“Al Duhail players are ambitious to win all games. Emotionally maybe we are a little bit affected by the Champions League loss. We are a big club and we will be prepared for the big games. Our numbers show that we are champions. The ACL is done, we will concentrate on the next games.”
The Sheikh Jassim Cup is the curtain-raiser for the QNB Stars League which begins on August 21. Al Sadd are record champions with 14 Super Cup titles while Duhail have won two (as Lekhwiya) but lost last year to Al Rayyan on penalties.
copy short url   Copy
16/08/2019
867