Al Sadd coach Juan Manuel Lillo ‘Juanma’ spoke to the media ahead of their 2022-2023 season QNB Stars League Week 12 match against Al Markhiya.

“Al Markhiya are a team that has great strength and has been built very well. They were recently promoted from the second division, but have shown excellence.

“I think we played well in our opening match of the league against them. In that match, for example, we had approximately 35-40 minutes (but were edged 4-3).

“I am happy with the return of all our players who were with the national team. We have become stronger and we hope to continue working to achieve more victories,” said Juanma.

Al Sadd player Akram Afif said, “Al Markhiya have advanced as a team. They achieved victory over us in the first round. We must prepare well for the match in order to avenge the loss.

“A very important match awaits us. We seek to return to the competition for the league title. It will be a strong match and our goal is to win to make our club’s fans happy.

“As I said, the team’s ambition is to win all matches and collect points, regardless of the current position. We play in every match in order to collect the valuable three points.”