Al Arabi played host to Al Markhiya in a friendly on Wednesday as part of their  preparations for the second phase of QNB Stars League.

The match provided Al Arabi’s Croatian coach Luka Bounacic with an opportunity to try out various combinations ahead of their 12th-round match against Al Sailiya on 12th January at the Al Ahli Stadium.

Meanwhile, the players, except Ahmed Fathi and Saad Nateq who are doing duty for Qatar and Iraq respectively at the Gulf Cup in Kuwait, continued their training under the watchful eyes of coaching staff.

Interestingly, the two players faced each other on Tuesday when Qatar went down 1-2 to Iraq.

However, Syrian professional player Mardik Mardikian attended the training sessions after recovering from an injury. He is expected to be fully fit for the forthcoming fixtures and compensate for his below-par performance in the first phase.