Al Gharafa coach Pedro Martins spoke to the media ahead of their 2022-2023 season QNB Stars League Week 13 match against Al Wakrah.

“Al Wakrah are one of the best teams in the league, as they have players with high competitive capabilities, in addition to their good attacking capabilities, with the presence of striker Dala, whom I know well from Portugal. Therefore, we know that we will face a strong team and we also know what we must do, but it will be a tough game against one of the best teams.

“Winning matches in general is an important thing because it contributes to everyone’s feeling of happiness, and then the preparations during the week following the victory are more positive preparations.

“We have done good things in recent matches and we had many chances to score, but we lacked the necessary effectiveness to take advantage of those opportunities, and therefore it was necessary to win the Al Sailiya match to give confidence to everyone.

“We have an injury to Saifelddin and he will not be ready to play because he needs some time other than the absence of Mustafa Essam for injury and Ayoub Mohammed to be with the national team. The rest of the players are ready as Almahdi Ali returned from injury and trained well during the past two days. Moayad Hassan, who trained since the beginning of the week, and everyone will be ready for the Al Wakrah match,” said Martins.

Al Gharafa player Abdullah Al Saei said, “All players will be ready for the match. The victory in the last round against Al Sailiya will motivate the players to go strong.

“Indeed, I started the season well, but unfortunately I was injured. God-willing, with continued participation in training and matches, I will regain my level and be better.

“We promise our fans to provide our best in the stadium.”