Argentina defender Gabriel Mercado, who joined Al Rayyan from La Liga club Sevilla in the summer, said he was delighted to have had the opportunity to play in Qatar. The centre-back made 117 appearances and scored three goals in three seasons for Sevilla. He has also played 24 matches for Argentina.
“I’m happy to be playing in the QNB Stars League and representing Al Rayyan. I could make out that the league competition is strong. The facilities are good and players have high quality. This is a nice country with good people. I just think that I’ve made a good choice,” Mercado said.
Mercado is set make his debut for Rayyan against Al Gharafa this Friday, having sat out of the opening fixture against Umm Salal. “I couldn’t play our first match due to suspension as I had five yellow cards from my former team Sevilla in the Spanish La Liga. I had a great time with Sevilla, playing for three seasons. Before that, I represented River Plate in my native country Argentina for five seasons. And also, Estudiantes and Racing Club,” the 32-year-old said.
Mercado said he was confident Rayyan can challenge Al Sadd and Al Duhail for trophies this season. “In Al Rayyan, we’ve a good team with outstanding players. There are some new players as well. We all are working well with the aim of collecting as many points as possible. My main target is to have a good season and help Al Rayyan clinch one trophy. We had to draw our first match against Umm Salal. It was hard at the very beginning of the season. Hopefully, we’ll get down to business from the second round onwards,” he added.
On playing with Argentina captain and legend Lionel Messi, Mercado said: “I’ve had great experience playing alongside Lionel Messi in the Argentinian national team. He’s a unique player. And the best player around, I would say. In fact, it’s a motivation for team-mates to be playing alongside him.”