Al Duhail coach Christophe Galtier spoke to the media ahead of their 2024-2025 season Ooredoo Stars League Week 2 match against Al Rayyan.

“The match is big for our team. Although it is the second match in the league championship, it carries great importance as it is considered as a football summit. The games between our team and Al Rayyan are always full of excitement and challenge. Al Rayyan presented a distinguished performance last season and as we seek to achieve a distinguished season, it is necessary for us to show a strong performance in these direct matches.

“Al Rayyan maintained the team structure from last season, as there are not many changes in its formation, especially in the attacking line, which was very effective. The only change was in the coach who knows the league well. For our part, we focused during the preparatory period on improving our attack significantly, and we worked on avoiding the mistakes that occurred previously, such as losing the ball unjustifiably, which could pose a danger to us.

“Another challenge facing us is maintaining focus and not being affected by our big win in the first match. The most important thing now is to focus on the next match and not dwell on the result of the previous match.

“With 8 months of my experience in Qatar league, I have a deeper and more accurate vision of the level of competition and the nature of the matches here. The matches are close at the beginning and then open up significantly at the end, which causes many goals to be scored in the last moments. This season, with the big changes in the team’s lineup, I have become more understanding of what we can achieve in training and the potential of the team,” said Galtier.

Al Duhail player Edmilson Junior said, “It has been two years since I was away from the stadiums and I feel that I am finally about to return strongly. I believe that we are now fully ready for this match thanks to the hard work we have done under the supervision of the coach and the technical staff.

“I was absent for a long time, but I was not out of work. I put in a lot of efforts during the recovery period, and I worked side by side with the team and the specialists at the club. We had a good training camp, where we focused on improving the tactical and technical aspects. In addition, the last friendly match was an important step in our preparations for the season. But all that is in the past now and the important thing is to focus on the next match.

“Personally, I started to regain my level gradually. Of course, after a period of absence, I cannot return with full energy at once. I may play 50 minutes or 60 minutes, but in the end the decision is up to the technical staff. What I can say is that I feel ready to give everything I can on the pitch, and the whole team is ready for this challenge.”