Al Duhail coach Nabil Maaloul spoke to the media ahead of their QNB Stars League Week 1 match against Al Shahania.

“We have reached the fifth week of preparations and we are ready for the new season. We are facing Second Division champions Al Shahania first and certainly the confrontation will be difficult even though we are the defending champions. We will try to retain the QNB Stars League title.

“We also have games against Al Khor and Al Rayyan before our AFC Champions League quarterfinal against Iran’s Persepolis. We will try to build on our strengths and take the positives, that we had in the previous seasons, to our advantage.

“We have a number of new players and we will try to keep achieving positive results. For that matter, all teams are ready for the competition.

“Al Duhail could have put it across Al Rayyan in the Sheikh Jassim Cup.  We missed many easy chances and Al Rayyan managed to score a goal in regular time despite having less possession of the ball. We suffered the same fate in this tournament last season also, but came back strongly and won three titles.

“(Karim) Boudiaf’s injury is fortunately a minor one and he will hopefully return to the side quickly, in time for the Persepolis game. He is an influential player and playmaker, and a good link between the defenders and midfielders.