Adnan Hamdan
Doha, Qatar- Al Sadd head coach Jesualdo Ferreira was amazed by
their team’s 5-0 win over Al-Rayyan in the QNB Star league on Saturday.
Speaking to reporters at the
post-match press conference, at the at the Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, he
said: “When the Clasico ends in a 5-0 result, it’s tough to say that it is a
Clasico. It is difficult to have a scoreline like that in a game between teams
like Al Sadd and Al Rayyan.”
“We were better than Al Rayyan and dominated
the first half completely. In the first ten minutes of the second half, we
almost fell asleep. Al Rayyan exploited that and controlled proceedings then
but we managed to score and I think that after the fourth goal, we found that
Al Rayyan had surrendered. This helped us to get a result like that.
“The 5-0 result does not reflect
what happened in the game because there was a competitive nature to it during
some parts. But in the end, Al Sadd’s attack was always dangerous.”
About Al-Sadd’s performance in the
AFC Champions League and its effect on their league efforts, he said: “Al Sadd
is thinking about the AFC Champions League and the league at the same time. We
have a delayed game to be played now and if more matches are delayed, I don’t
know when we will play them.
“From my point of view, I think
it’s better not to call up the Al Sadd players for the national team’s
international friendlies to reduce the strain no them. They are performing a
national duty by competing for the AFC Champions League title.”
As for the effect of fatigue on his
players, the coach said: “The Clasico games are always a treat for the players
because they are played in front of a lot of fans. This gets rid of fatigue
because of the desire of the player to perform at his best. And so, fatigue had
no real effect on the players in today’s game and the proof is the 5-0 win.”