Kharaitiyat take on Lekhwiya

Al Kharaitiyat take on second placed Lekhwiya in round twenty-three of the QSL. The match will take place at the Al Khor stadium today.
Kharaitiyat head coach Ahmed al-Ajlani assured that his team’s next match against Lekhwiya is both tough and important for both sides. He stated that his team haven’t guaranteed their survival yet and that today’s match is against a team that is competing for the QSL title. He declared that one point from this game would be a good result for his side.
“The players have memorized the match strategy with positive participation from their side. The recent victories and the huge support by the Club Management helped us greatly as well as the players who recently joined the team,” al-Ajlani said.
He demanded total concentration from his players during the match and was banking on his team’s strong fighting spirit to get them the valuable point. He praised the opponents describing them as a tough team. He also stressed on the importance of the match with it being right before the break.
Lekhwiya head coach, Djamel Belmadi pointed out that there would be no room for error against Kharaitiyat if they wanted to remain in the title race.
“When the team is participating in two competitions, the issue lies in the timing. However, that’s not an excuse. Now we have to focus on the game ahead instead of looking for excuses. The players are fully prepared. Anwaar Diba is making the difference for Al Kharaitiyat and we have to find a way to stop him. We also have quality players capable of making all the difference,” said Belmadi during the pre-match press conference.

Laudrup’s Rayyan take on bottom-placed Wakrah
Meanwhile Al Rayyan take on bottom side Al Wakra today.
Rayyan head coach Michael Laudrup said that he was satisfied with the performance of his team against the Saudi side Al Hilal in the Asian Champions League recently. The only negative point in that game was the goal his team conceded in the closing minutes.
He added: “We will seek to win our game against Al Wakrah to keep up the spirit of the team and to secure our position. We are well aware of the difficulty and importance of this game due to the fact that we face Al Wakrah, a team fighting to avoid relegation. We are sure that Al Wakrah will bring their best into the game to win the three points.”
Laudrup continued: “We lost our previous game to Al Gharafa as well as the AFC Champions League match and therefore we have to come back strong. I had to change the players in Al Gharafa game because it is not logical to play with the same set of players for three games within such a short period of time.”
Al Wakrah senior football team head coach Kais al-Yaaqoby assured that the next match versus Al Rayyan is a very tough one.
“We still have hopes of surviving in the QSL. We will play to achieve a positive result. One point from Al Rayyan is considered a positive result.”
Al-Yaqoby indicated that the coach is always responsible and the figures don’t accurately represent the performances: “The highest score we managed was three goals. What the team is missing a leader in each of the three lines.”

Today’s fixtures
Rayyan vs Wakrah 4:55pm
Kharaitiyat vs Lekhwiya 7:05pm