Tunisia marked its Independence Day on Sunday with the nation’s embassy holding a gala function at Katara to celebrate the occasion. Tunisian footballer Yousef Msakni (right), who plays for Lekhwiya, was also there to represent the club and to promote their new community outreach programme ‘Yalla Lekhwiya’.
Qsl.com.qa went along to catch up with the one of the most exciting Arab players of his generation and find out about his thoughts on the season and his contribution to his team.
Q: You have been here now for a season and a half. Do you feel you have reached your targets; are you happy with your contribution this season?
A:Firstly I am very happy to be here in the Qatar Stars League, and about my targets, well I have already helped my team to win one cup, the Heir Apparent, we beat Al Sadd 3-2 in a great final.
However that’s not enough for me, I want to get more cups and titles. Certainly the AFC Champions League has to be another big target for the team, I believe we could win this and with our recent good result against Al Ittihad we now have a better chance of qualifying.
Q: You are the third top scorer in the Qatar Stars League, which player do you enjoy playing with most in Lekhwiya?
A: About becoming the top scorer, I am third in the league but it is not something I am focusing on, plus I am not the team’s penalty taker otherwise I would have more goals. But that’s not so important to me, I just want to help the team, the good thing about our team is that many players are scoring not just one or two players.
The player I enjoy playing with the most is the Korean Nam Tae-Hee, he is a technical player too and I love playing next to him, we have a good understanding between us.
Q: So the season is coming to an end, who do you think will be the top four at the end of the season?
A: Well so far this season Al Ahi have been a good surprise so I think they deserve to finish well but we cannot discount El Jaish and Al Sadd obviously. I think Sailiya will probably take the fourth spot and qualify for the Qatar Cup.
Q:How would you compare the QSL with the Tunisian league?
A: Things here in the QSL are better, the level of the players is better, the quality of the pitches, the general conditions, and the whole thing is more professional and organised but Tunisia has a lot of great players too.
Q: What about some of the criticisms you have faced since coming to the QSL; do you think they are warranted?
A: To be honest, things always look easier from the outside and so people speak too easily, I am always trying to improve and in football you learn every day.
I hope I can improve but I can’t be doing that bad as I play regularly in the first team and I am currently the third highest scorer in the league this season. Of course there are some areas I still want to improve, all players have weaknesses.
Q: Qatar owns teams in Europe; do you feel that you can use this league as a stepping stone to maybe one day go to the big teams of Europe in the future?
A: Well first I have some targets I want to achieve here, such as winning the Qatar Stars League and AFC Champions League as I told you before, then once I have proven myself, hopefully I will be worthy of my place in a big team in Europe but for now I am happy here and I enjoy playing in the QSL very much.
