Al-Sadd head coach Xavi Hernandez praised his players after the 1-0 win over Iran’s Foolad in the fifth round of the AFC Champions League group stage.
In his statement to the media after the match, Xavi said: “We played a wonderful match, it was a great battle with Foolad. The Al Sadd players were better and we deserve to win. Now we are at the top of the most difficult group in the tournament.”
He continued: “Since the start of the tournament, we have been improving from one match to the next, and today we played a heroic match. We reached the top of the group and this was the team’s goal from the start.”
“All the players of the team were responsible and proved that they are the best in a very important match for us. It was like a final match and now we are in the lead and we will maintain it and this is our mentality. We always aim for the first position.”