Paulo Edmilson has a key role to play in Al Duhail’s scheme of things this season, mainly because of his untiring efforts, high technical abilities, skills in dribbling, passing as well as creating opportunities and scoring.
The Belgian-Brazilian joined Duhail in July last year from his home club Standard Liege and since then has been the standout player in Portuguese coach Rui Faria’s team. The forward spoke to qsl.qa ahead of this weekend’s QNB Stars League match against Al Rayyan. Excerpts 

How do you view your match against Al Rayyan?
Certainly, it won’t be an easy game. Al Rayyan are a big team in the Qatar league and are working hard to win the title. I think fans will enjoy a strong performance. It’ll be a good game because both teams play offensively.

Will Duhail be able to win it or will you face difficulties during the match?
Difficulties exist in every game, but the ability to win comes from the players’ determination and successful implementation of the plan drawn up by the technical staff as well as performance on the pitch. All these factors can help Al Duhail win this contest. If we can give our maximum, we’ll be able to defeat Al Rayyan.

What are the strengths of both teams?
Both teams have good players in all departments and that reflects on their strength. Al Duhail’s performance can rise to great heights when we play with high spirit. Al Rayyan players have high physical capabilities, which are reflected on their speed on the pitch.

Which Al Rayyan player worries you the most?
I’m not worried about any particular player. Generally, we’ve to be wary of our opponents. There’ve been talks that Al Duhail’s performance is on the decline… 
Injuries have forced many of our players to be out of action. Certainly, this has had a big impact on us. Teams missing the services of their regular players happens around the world. It’s normal in football. We work hard to win games. We all perform strongly in training in order to fulfil our mission on the pitch.

What do you think are the reasons for changes in the team’s show?
I don’t think there’s a change in the team’s performance, but we can say there’s a mismatch in some games.

Is exit from the AFC Champions League still haunting Al Duhail?
Exiting from the AFC Champions League was sad for all of us, but this is football and we must move forward. There’re many tournaments ahead of us. We must be on top physically and technically to achieve our goals.

Al Rayyan are motivated to score their first win after two successive draws…
Every club wants victories and positive results. Al Duhail are motivated enough to win this game.

Your message to Al Duhail and Al Rayyan fans?
We hope there’ll be a lot of fans out there and that’ll increase the players’ determination on the pitch. It’ll also encourage them to give off their best to delight the fans.

What’re your ambitions with the team this season?
Any footballer will’ve ambitions to win trophies with his club and give the performance expected from him. Now we’re facing a new season, new challenges and we must work hard to regain our pride on the domestic front and also in Asia.

Are Duhail capable of regaining the league shield?
Indeed, Al Duhail are capable of regaining the league shield. It can be achieved by working more on the pitch and rectifying our mistakes that affect our performance. The season is still long and we’re at the beginning of the journey.