Skipper Battat leads Palestine on and off pitch at Asian Cup

The 30-year-old captain will be the man his team look to once again for inspiration when Palestine face hosts and reigning champions Qatar in a daunting last-16 tie on Monday. Palestine's first time in the knockout rounds of the regional championship was sealed with their first ever victory in the tournament, 3-0 over Hong Kong. The attacking defender set up two of the goals and was named man of the match.

"He is the kind of captain who leads by example," said Bassil Mikdadi, founder of the Football Palestine website. "The story or the journey of Palestinian football over the last 10 years can be told through Musab Al-Battat," added Mikdadi. The right-back made his international debut in 2013 and is at his, and the team's, third Asian Cup.

The side ranked 99 in the world have progressed into the next round despite a deeply troubled build-up overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war in the Palestinian territory of Gaza. Some of the players have lost loved ones and have family trapped in Gaza. The team trained and played matches abroad in the build-up to their third Asian Cup.

As skipper and a highly respected senior player, Battat has been the public voice and face of the team in Qatar. Wearing the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh headscarf along with his team tracksuit, he emerged at the opening ceremony to deliver the players' oath in front of more than 80,000 spectators. Normally it would be the host nation's skipper who does it.

On the eve of Palestine's first game, which ended in a 4-1 defeat to Iran, Battat described what being at the Asian Cup meant to him and his team-mates. "We as players are part of the Palestinian people and live through the same suffering as the people," said Battat.

Battat plays for his hometown club