Al-Sadd head coach Xavi Hernandez described his side’s upcoming clash against Al-Rayyan as “a very important game” and stressed on the desire to complete the season with an unbeaten record.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Xavi said: “Our next game is against Al-Rayyan, it’s a Clasico and it’s a very important game. Of course, we have already won the league but we have the motivation to finish the season unbeaten, with two games left.”
“It’s very difficult; we play Al-Rayyan first and then Qatar Club, and they both are still competing for the Champions League spots for next season. So it will be complicated and tough, and as you know, Al-Rayyan have a very good team and they have changed a lot with the new coach.”
He added: “They lost their last game against Umm Salal but we expect a lot of difficulty in the next game. From our part, we will try to do our best of course, and win the three points.”
“It’s very important for us, for our morale, to win this Clasico.”
Asked about Al-Rayyan’s recent defeats, Xavi remarked: “Yes, but it is different. In the Clasico, it doesn’t mean anything if they lost the last game or if we are unbeaten until now. Things are totally different in the Clasico.”
“I remember when I played in Barcelona vs Real Madrid, it was really difficult to predict something in the game.”
He added: “It will be difficult because Al-Rayyan always have extra motivation against us, but of course we will give our 100% to get the three points.”
As for rotation of players in the Al-Sadd squad, the coach said: “Yes, for sure, we will change the players, because we have three games in a small period and we need to change. We will try to avoid injuries because we have challenges coming up in the Champions League and the Amir Cup.”
He also said: “This competition is already won, but we want to compete and we want to finish the season unbeaten.”
“But for sure, we will rotate the players.”
