Al Sadd head coach Sergio Alegre spoke about the importance and difficulty of the upcoming match against Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, in the third round of the 2025–2026 AFC Champions League Elite, scheduled for Tuesday evening at Kingdom Arena.
During the pre-match press conference, Alegre said: “A tough and strong game awaits us against Al Hilal, one of the strongest teams in Asia. We have prepared well for this match, and I hope we can deliver our best performance.”
He added: “We currently have two points from two matches, and tomorrow we’ll play a difficult away game. Our goal is to achieve a positive result that serves our ambitions in the competition. Al Hilal have great attacking and defensive options and a top coach, Simone Inzaghi, so it will be an enjoyable challenge for us. We are ready for it.”
Speaking about playing away in Riyadh, Alegre said: “We fear nothing. We have an excellent group of players despite the absence of Boualem Khoukhi, Romain Saïss, and Youcef Atal. Our aim is to deliver a strong and solid performance.”
Meanwhile, Al Sadd captain Hassan Al Haydos described the upcoming match against Al Hilal as a difficult one, adding: “Especially since they are among the strongest clubs in Asia.”
He continued: “I hope our team performs well and gets back on the right track. We’ll play with the spirit of Al Zaeem and aim for a positive result. Recently, our performances were not at their best — we lost many points both locally and in Asia. But after qualifying for the World Cup, the morale is higher, and I hope that reflects on the players’ performance against Al Hilal.”
Al Haydos added: “We know Al Hilal’s strengths and weaknesses. We don’t fear facing them on their home ground, and we must give our full effort and concentration to come out with a good result.”
He concluded by congratulating Salem Al-Dawsari for winning the AFC Player of the Year award: “Congratulations to Salem for winning Asia’s Best Player award. Akram also deserved it and is capable of winning it next year.”
