Al Sadd will be up against Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal in their second match of Group B at the King Salman Club Cup 2023 on Sunday. The match will start at 8pm at the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Sports City Stadium in Abha, Saudi Arabia.With both teams seeking to score a win and gain maximum points and hoping to advance into the quarter-finals, the contest will be keenly fought. Both Al Sadd and Al Hilal had a draw in their opening matches. While Al Sadd played out a goalless draw with Wydad of Morocco, Al Hilal were held by the same margin by Libya’s Al Ahli Tripoli.Al Sadd’s experienced captain Hassan al-Haydos said the match against Al Hilal would be challenging.Speaking on the eve of the crucial tie, al-Haydos said, "The match on Sunday will undoubtedly be challenging as we face a championship-winning team. We are eager to engage in these strong encounters to gain valuable experience, especially since we are at the beginning of the season.The skipper stressed that his side will look to deliver a strong performance. "Our aim is to deliver a powerful and commendable performance and secure the three points. In the match against Wydad we didn’t perform at our best. We missed the opportunity to score when Wydad were reduced to 10-man after a player of theirs was shown the red card as they defended strongly.”Al-Haydos added, "The Wydad match is now behind us and we will learn from our mistakes as we prepare to face Al Hilal. As I mentioned earlier, we are still in the early stages of the season and we are continuously evolving from one match to another. We must use our experience and approach tomorrow’s match with greater effectiveness."Matches between Al Sadd and Al Hilal have always been thrilling for both players and fans alike. I hope we present ourselves as a more formidable team compared to our first encounter.”Al Sadd’s coach Bruno Miguel has had the experience of facing Al Hilal as a coach in the Portuguese League and is aiming to gain from that.Miguel said, "We expect a difficult and intense encounter. Having competed with Al Hilal’s former coach in the Portuguese league, I will prepare my team appropriately. Al Hilal play with a lot of intensity and deny rivals much space to make moves.”Al Sadd were without the services of their professional quartet — Guilherme Torres, Paulo Ottavio, Gonzalo Plata and Romain Saiss — in their opening match due to fitness issues.Coach Miguel is hoping that any of the quartet would be available for the crucial Al Hilal match. "Yes, there will be new faces in the match against Al Hilal but they will be on the substitutes’ bench. Only fully fit players will participate in the game,” he said."We will fight on the field and play with a winning mentality. Al Hilal are a formidable team and we will compete to the best of our abilities. What matters most is to exhibit an evolving mindset from one match to the next,” he added.Meanwhile, Al Hilal are expected to bank on their vociferous home support, who will be out in full force to support their team, as witnessed during the match against Al Ahli Tripoli. In the other match of the day, Morocco’s Wydad will meet Al Ahli Tripoli at the same stadium at 4pm.
July 30, 2023 | 12:34 AM