Al Qadsiah face winless Al Sadd in Dammam days after losing top spot to Al Hilal
Al Qadsiah, in their debut AFC Champions League Elite campaign, can strengthen their position in the West league stage against an Al Sadd side bottom after two straight defeats. Brendan Rodgers is without Waleed Al-Ahmad, while Nacho Fernandez, Nahitan Nandez and Abdulaziz Al-Elawai are questionable.
Al Qadsiah return to Asian competition on a short turnaround, hosting Al Sadd just a couple of days after the 3-2 home defeat by Al Hilal that ended their 13-game unbeaten run and cost them top spot in the Saudi Pro League. Rodgers said afterwards that by the next day the club would forget about the result and move on to the next game.
Tired legs and a thin squad notwithstanding, Rodgers's side ought to have enough to beat an Al Sadd still without a point in Dammam, on a lively, high-scoring evening in which the visitors still find the net.
Waleed Al-Ahmad is out for the home side. Nacho Fernandez is questionable with an ankle injury that kept him out of the Pakhtakor, Abha and Al-Taawoun games, and Nahitan Nandez and Abdulaziz Al-Elawai are also questionable. No absences have been reported for Al Sadd, and neither line-up has been announced.
Al Qadsiah have four points from two games in the competition, after a 2-1 home win over Al Wasl and a 1-1 draw away to Pakhtakor, and beat Al-Taawoun 1-0 and Abha 2-1 in the league before the Al Hilal game. Al Sadd lost 0-2 at home to Al Hilal and 3-0 away to Esteghlal, leaving them 16th with no points and a goal difference of -5, though they beat Al Shahania 4-0 in the Qatar Stars League.
There are no recent meetings between the clubs to draw on, with Al Qadsiah in their first Champions League Elite campaign. Rodgers has reminded supporters that the club were in the second tier just two years ago. Al-Sharq lists the kick-off as Monday at 9:15pm Doha time, while the SAFF club page gives Tuesday 27-10-2026 at 21:15.
