Al Duhail Coach: our game against strong Al-Ahly will be tough but beautiful
The French boss spoke of his side's hotly anticipated opening game of the club World Cup against African champions Al-Ahly, expecting it to be tough and beautiful at the same time.
The head coach of Qatari side Al Duhail, Sabri Lamouchi, expressed his excitement about his team's first fixture in the FIFA Club World Cup against Al-Ahly, describing the Egyptian team as a powerful opponent who overcame tough rivals in the African interclub competition.
"It's going to be a tough encounter against a powerful side who won the CAF Champions League title over another fierce Egyptian rival in a wonderful final game," the French coach told Bein Sports.
Lamouchi lauds Al-Ahly's players
He also praised Al-Ahly's players for their abilities on the technical level, saying: "Al-Ahly have a squad filled with players with great technical skills, that's why it's going to be a beautiful game."
"It's a great chance to face UEFA champions in the second game, but firstly we have to stay focused on the first game as we have got a chance to make Qatari football proud".
Al Duhail, who represent the host country in the competition, are to take on Al-Ahly on 4 February with the winner set to clash with 2020 UEFA Champions League titleholders Bayern Munich in the tournament's semi-final.
Both teams are currently second in their domestic leagues:
Al Duhail currently lie in the second spot of Qatar stars league standings with 28 points, 10 points behind Al-Sadd who have one game in hand, while Al-Ahly are second in the Egyptian league with 17 points behind Zamalek who earned 19 points in the first seven weeks of the competition.