Al Duhail First Football Team Head Coach Djamel Belmadi confirmed during the pre-match press conference held this evening that he is certain the team is expecting a tough match against the winner of last season’s AFC Champions League Elite, Al Ahli FC, a team that always puts on strong performances in Doha against Qatari teams.
Belmadi opened his statements by saying: “Our preparations before the confrontation with Al Ahli, the Asian champions, were mostly recovery training because we are playing successive matches at a rate of one match every 3 or 4 days. It was necessary to recover well after the last league match versus Al Sadd. Today we will have the final training session on our pitch, and we will increase our focus on tactical matters.”
Belmadi continued: “Al Ahli couldn’t come back against the Egyptian Side Pyramids in the Continental Clubs Cup, but they managed to do so versus Al Hilal after being three goals down in the first half, which is a difficult thing to come back from and end the match in a draw. We must respect the Asian champions, nothing more. I know that a strong confrontation awaits us against Al Ahli, the team also played a match here last year versus Al Rayyan, achieved a positive result, and presented a good performance. We must fight in the match from the beginning.”
Belmadi added: “Riyad Mahrez is a world-class player, and when you face a player like him, you must mark him well because he is a great player who can change the match at any moment, and we must be ready for that. In terms of self-confidence, when you lose points at the start of the league matches, as happened with us, you must not be shaken and should trust your abilities because the team was in the process of formation, and we have many new players and a new playing style, and of course, that takes some time. On the other hand, when you win, you shouldn’t overly exaggerate your joy and pride because you have a lot to do. We are still working, and the team is performing better. Against Al Sadd, we were close to winning, and I am certain we could have won, but we didn’t achieve that. The positive thing we must mention is that we kept a clean sheet, not because of a change in playing style, but due to our high concentration. I am happy with that, and tomorrow is another match in another competition, and I hope we have luck and success and that we win with a good result.”
Belmadi went on to say: “We didn’t achieve the result we deserved in more than one match, as happened versus Al Rayyan, where we couldn’t get a positive result, and we deserved to win with many chances missed by Piatek and Boulbina, the return of Luiz, and the numerous injuries that affected the team, most notably Al Moez Ali, who only played 20 minutes against Al Sadd since the start of the season, in addition to Edmilson’s injury. But the most important thing is that we are playing real football and are not playing defensively and relying on counter-attacks. This is what we mentioned to the players during the pre-season period—that this is not good and the team will change after 3 months. We are currently working on imposing our playing style in an enjoyable way, and we will achieve the required results with more work and effort.”
Belmadi concluded his statements by saying: “We have a complete squad of 25 players, and each player is capable of filling in for his teammates’ absences if necessary. I am not worried about the absences that have affected the team before Al Ahli match.
