Al Sadd coach Wesam Rizik spoke to the media ahead of their 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League Week 12 match against Umm Salal.

“A strong and important match awaits us against Umm Salal, for which we are preparing well to score the three points.

“The loss to Al Arabi was not expected and has now become a thing of the past. We are thinking about our next steps and I have great confidence in the players and their reaction against Umm Salal in order to achieve victory.

“Certainly, the pressure of matches had an impact on the team in view of the number of matches we played, especially from the physical aspect. We try to rotate the players in order to appear with the best formation in each match.

“I have great confidence in Al Sadd players. We have prominent players and are capable of returning to victories against Umm Salal in the next round and before the break,” said Wesam.

Al Sadd player Akram Afif said, “It is a difficult game and their matches against Al Sadd are always full of competition and challenge. We strive to give off our best in order to get the three points.

“The loss to Al Arabi did not affect us as a team. We are still in the lead, but a win would have given us more points than the rest of the competitors.

“The league is still long. Our goal is to provide the best against Umm Salal and return to the winning path.”