Al Rayyan coach Leonardo Jardim spoke to the media ahead of their 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League Week 19 match against Al Duhail.

“We will return to playing at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium and we have hope of returning to victories. It will be a big and competitive match between two great teams, and this season Al Rayyan are better in the standings than Al Duhail, who won the league title last season. They have almost the same players from last season, it will be a tough match.

“The last loss (to Al Gharafa in Week 18) was a setback, but Al Rayyan always fight as the competition has not finished mathematically and our goal is a qualifying position for the AFC Champions League next season,” said Jardim.

Al Rayyan player Murad Naji said, “The team is ready to face Al Duhail. In the last match against Al Gharafa, we did not provide the performance and result that we had hoped for as players and technical staff. We started the season very well and achieved a group of victories, and there was a strange decline in the last match. Al Gharafa succeeded in achieving victory, so we will try during the next match against Al Duhail to return to the right path and achieve victories again.

“We will give everything we have during the coming period to return to advanced positions. Al Rayyan’s current position is not the ambition of the team and players, so the Al Duhail match is important to give the team hope to compete for the positions we aspire to.”