Al Rayyan’s ticket is being shown during the Emir Cup draw ceremony held in Doha yesterday.
DOHA: Al Rayyan coach Michael Laudrup still feels the pain of his team’s dramatic loss to Al Sadd in the Emir Cup final last year. And that loss, after a close battle, has added to the retired footballer star’s desire to see ‘The Lions’ as the champions in 2018.
It was the night of May 19, 2017, a historic day for football in Qatar as the Khalifa International Stadium, the first 2022 World Cup venue to be completed, hosted the first competitive game after being refurbished for the mega tournament.
Both the Qatari football giants played out an evenly-poised match in front of packed crowd till the injury time, before legendary Xavi Hernandez crafted the winning goal for Al Sadd with a brilliant assist to Jugurtha Hamroun to shatter Al Rayyan’s dream in the last minute.
“We were already thinking about going into the penalties and that goal left us stunned. It was very unfortunate for us,” Laudrup told The Peninsula on the sidelines of Emir Cup draw ceremony yesterday.
“We were very close to the title last year. We gave a very good performance in the tournament as we defeated Lekhwiya 3-1 in the semi-final. But Al Sadd is also a good team and they have fantastic players particularly Xavi, who made that crucial pass to Hamroun, and unfortunately for us he scored,” said Al Rayyan coach while hoping to reach the final for the second successive year.
“This time also we will try to reach the final and play well and win this important competition. I look forward to a good performance from my team,” he added.
Al Rayyan will be seen in action in the Emir Cup quarter-finals stage.
In the recently-concluded QNB Stars League (QSL), Al Rayyan – the 2015 champions – finished third behind Al Duhail and Al Sadd, and Laudrup sounded satisfied with his team’s show in the competition.
“The position is what we targeted. We knew right from the start that it would be very tough against the two big teams (Al Duhail and Al Sadd). But we tried to clinch the best possible position,” he said before adding that loss against Al Sadd was the turning point for his team’s campaign.
“I think we played a very very good first half of the QSL. When we lost to Al Sadd 2-0 in February and with Al Duhail only winning and winning, then it became obvious to us that we are not going to win the league. But I am happy the way team performed in the first half. We (Al Rayyan and Al Sadd) must admit that Al Duhail was a better team than us,” he concluded.
