Al-Rayyan coach Artur Jorge emphasized the importance of the upcoming match between Al-Rayyan and Al-Sadd in the Qatari Clasico, within the 20th round of the Expo Stars League. During the press conference held on the sidelines of the match, he said: “We will play a difficult match for us because it is against one of the teams competing for the league title. No one here is happy with the level we presented in the previous match, so we consider this meeting important for us to change the team’s character because we want to perform better than we did in the previous match. We consider the remaining three matches as finals for us, and no one can play for Al-Rayyan without having a winning mentality.”
He added: “We know that this match is very difficult for us, but I think it is also difficult for Al-Sadd because they will play against us. Our team has presented excellent levels in its matches against the top three teams and against the Asian teams. I trust the players because this type of match does not need motivation, and everyone wants to play this type of match because this match is different from other matches. We will give everything we have, and we will make the match difficult for them.”
Regarding the absence of Julian de Sart, he said: “I would have preferred Julian to be present in this match, and certainly whoever plays in this position will give the best for the team. I would have preferred all the players to be present, but without Julian, we will fight in the same way as if Julian were present.”