DOHA (Qatar): Al Gharafa take on Al Arabi in a crucial match as the Qatar Stars League resumes on Friday and coach Slavisa Jokanovic hoped his team would be at their best.
“We had almost four-and-a-half months without playing an official match. After that, we started some individual exercises and fortunately, we trained closer to the normal way during the past three weeks,” said Jokanovic.
“It is not easy to give a clear answer regarding the current level of readiness because we have not played for a long time, but we played some friendly matches to check the level we have reached.
Gharafa are currently fourth in the standings with 28 points, but a defeat on Friday will allow fifth-placed Arabi to close the gap to just one point.
“All matches will be crucial. After facing Al Arabi, we will have four other games. Al Arabi match has great importance and can be seen as a six-point game, because the opponents are behind us in the fifth position with 24 points in the table. I hope we will be at our best and give our maximum efforts to win.
“We will miss professionals Sofiane Hanni and Adlene Guedioura for various reasons. On the other side, we do not have many problems with injuries except Monkez Ali.
Al Gharafa player Almahdi Ali said, “I thank all those who worked to resume football activity and special thanks to the medical teams who are fighting the coronavirus (Covid-19) in the frontline.
“Regarding the return of action, all players at Al Gharafa are excited and the friendly matches prepared the team to resume the season. The next match is important for both teams. We will do our best to win three points and widen the difference between us.
