DOHA: Retired football players Raul and Pep Guardiola congratulated Spanish coach Valero Rivera after hosts Qatar surprised pundits to reach the final of the 2015 World Handball Championship. On Sunday Qatar lost toFrance in the title clash after the two countries beat Poland and Spain in the semifinals respectively. Valero received a phone call from football legend Raul who played two seasons with Al Sadd before retiring from the sport. Raul wished Valero saying he had been following the fortunes of the Qatari side in the tournament. Guardiola, who coaches Bayern Munich, and Valero have been fast friends since their days at Barcelona where the latter was managing the handball side.