Al Gharafa players celebrate in this file picture.
Doha: Al Gharafa coach Christian Gourcuff is targetting a win over Al Shahania when they meet in their QNB Stars League Week 11 match against Al Shahania.
“We must maintain the momentum by continuing our good performance. We are very satisfied with the outcome of our last match (6-0 win over Al Khor).
“We look forward to becoming better despite the absence of some players, most notably Abdulaziz Hatem and Khalid Abdulrraouf, through injuries. However, we are looking to push some young players and hope to beat Al Shahania.
“Staying focused is important especially in the next game, so we can then evaluate the performance of our team in the first leg and then work on our goals in the second leg,” said Gourcuff.
Al Gharafa goalkeeper Yousef Hassan said, “Our start was not good in the league and we lost some easy points unfortunately, so we want to focus especially in these games so as not to lose points. Our team was affected by injuries, especially our defence.”
Meanwhile, Al Shahania coach Jose Murcia also said his team will go for three points
“It is going to be a very difficult match for us, we are facing a strong team. At the same time, this game is very important for us. We will try to achieve our goals. We are equipping the players with confidence with the aim of getting a positive result.
“We know Al Gharafa, we have to be wary of them. They are strong contenders for a top-four finish as well. We have great respect for them, but we look forward towards bagging three points.
“Right now, our main focus is to boost the confidence of our players. They are playing as a cohesive group,” said Murcia.
Al Shahania player Hamad Al Juhani said, “Al Gharafa are a good team with a lot of high-quality players, but we will not be a pushover side. We will give them a tough fight. We are eager not to repeat the mistakes we committed in the previous rounds. All our players are ready to play their roles.”
In the other match, Umm Salal take on Al Sadd.
Umm Salal coach Laurent Banide was confident in dealing with Al Sadd challenge.
“We have a tough task on our hand. We are facing Al Sadd and we are going to play with full concentration. It is not easy to play against a strong team that lost their last game. They have some wonderful players, but we know how to deal with them.
“Each match is different and we have come out with negative results against Qatar SC and Al Shahania (both games ended in 1-1 draws). Now, we want to put up a strong performance against Al Sadd.
“Only Ismail Mahmoud is nursing an injury in our ranks. Rest all players are ready. We have a lot of solutions while playing against big teams, but I cannot reveal them,” said Banide.
