Al Duhail First Football Team Head Coach Djamel Belmadi confirmed that a strong match awaits the team versus Al Shamal on Saturday. The match will be held at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Al Duhail Club, as part of the Doha Bank Stars League fixtures.

Belmadi began his statements during the pre-match press conference by saying: “We are fully aware of the importance of Saturday’s match against Al Shamal, the league leader. Last season’s encounter saw Al Shamal win by a large margin, and that was the match that prevented us from winning the league title. Al Shamal is a well-organized team on the field and they also possess distinctive players. They also have good organization defensively and offensively and play with great determination.”

Belmadi added: “We moved directly from the Asian Elite clash versus Al Wahda (UAE) to preparing for Al Shamal match in the league. We must live with the pressure of matches we are facing, rely on the available players, and also work to prepare for the Al Shamal match properly.”

Belmadi concluded his statements by saying: “The international break was long and we were relatively affected by this stop after the positive results we had been achieving. We also benefited somewhat in terms of preparation and correcting some mistakes. Regarding Al Wahda match, I assure you that Al Wahda international players played a match with the national team and a league match, while we did not play, which definitely negatively affected the team performance, but that is not an excuse or justification for the result of the match. We will try to prepare our players in the best possible way. I believe Al Shamal has a slight advantage in terms of readiness before our match together. They have Baghdad Bounedjah and Manai who are international players and have played matches with their national teams, but we will try to give our best in this match.