“Al Sailiya are a strong side and their place (fifth) in the standings is proof for that. We had played a pre-season friendly with them and the result was 2-2. So we give them due respect,” said Laudrup yesterday.
The Danish coach also listed out his team’s targets for this season. “Our primary target this season is to be in top four and then go for the league title. We also wish to play in the AFC Champions League. For that, we’ve to qualify through two play-off games in January. Keeping all this in mind, we’ve been giving opportunities to many youngsters, like Ahmed al-Saadi. We need them to be ready for the big matches, especially since Qatar is hosting the FIFA World Cup in five years’ time,” he said.
Laudrup believes Rayyan can challenge for the title. “We’re also keen to close the gap with top two teams Al Duhail and Al Sadd. We’ve the strength to go for the title. Abderrazzak Hamdellah’s good form augurs well for us. We want to win some titles this season,” the Dane said.
Meanwhile, Al Sailiya coach Sami Trabelsi said his team will have to be at their best to beat Rayyan. “Rayyan are a formidable side with some outstanding players. Naturally, we’ve a tough task on hand. I hope my players would perform at the same level as they did against Al Sadd in the second round. We weren’t bad in that match and could give Al Sadd a run for their money,” said Trabelsi.
“Against Rayyan, our main focus would be on containing their strikers (Sebastian) Soria and (Abderrazzak) Hamdellah. We’re happy with our performance so far this season and hope to set bigger targets in future,” he added.
Rock-bottom side Al Markhiya will take on Al Khor tomorrow. Markhiya’s coach Ayman Mansour said his determined to secure a victory.
“We target three points as our position in the league standings is very precarious. We’re optimistic and motivated despite getting some adverse results. After the QSL Cup fixtures during the break, we had to make some changes to the side and that didn’t click in our last game against Al Rayyan and we lost by a big margin,” said Ayman.
Al Khor coach Laurent Banide was looking forward to the match against Markhiya as an opportunity to garner three points and thus make up for the lost points in the previous outings.
“In my opinion, Al Markhiya are tough opponents. They had beaten Al Sadd in the very first round, no matter the overturned result for fielding an ineligible player. Then they fared well in the two QSL Cup fixtures against Al Sadd and Al Arabi. It’s a fact that they’re a promoted team and stay at the rock-bottom. Yet, they’ve the potential to throw up surprises. We’re ready for the battle,” said the Frenchman.