Al-Sadd head coach Juanma Lillo has stressed the difficulty of his side’s upcoming game against Al-Gharafa in Round 14 of the QNB Stars League.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Juanma said: “It will be a difficult game against Al Gharafa, which is a good team, and they have players of high quality, especially I think they have a very good level of foreigners.”
The Al-Sadd coach indicated that his side was close to defeating Al-Gharafa during their first phase match, saying: “Curiously, if there was a game in which we were closer to victory with one less player, it was against Al Gharafa in the first phase. We must not forget that from the middle of the first half, we had one less player and I think we were closer to winning or even drawing than any other game.”
About Al-Gharafa’s recent performance, the coach remarked: “Al-Gharafa were strong and impactful in their last match against Al-Wakrah.” He also reiterated the need to prepare well for this clash, given the difficulty of facing this opponent.
Asked if the fact that the two sides have the same number of points will have an effect on the game, Juanma said: “I do not think that the match will be more difficult because we have the same number of points, but it is logical that Al-Gharafa are in the advanced positions in the standings because of the high-level players they have.”
“It shows that they are going to do well because they could get ahead of us in points.”
He concluded by saying: “We have great confidence and we are in high spirits after the victories we have achieved recently. We seek to continue in the same way and add more wins to our tally.”
