Barcelona take to the Camp Nou on Wednesday night for the first time this season in the traditional preseason Gamper Trophy, named after the club’s founder, Joan. Roma are this season’s opponents and a crowd of over 80,000 is expected.
A similar number of fans were present when the players last stood on the turf to celebrate last season’s treble winners in Luis Enrique’s first season as coach. They hope to celebrate two more trophies this month as Barca aim to emulate the six won by Pep Guardiola in 2009.
First up will be the two-legged Spanish Super Cup, with the ties to be played home and away on August 14 and 17. Athletic Bilbao, who Barca beat in the Copa del Rey final in May, will provide the opposition, and are also the Spanish champions’ first league opponents, on August 23. Sevilla, the Europa League winners for a second consecutive season last term, will play the Catalans next Tuesday in Tblisi, Georgia, in the European Super Cup final.
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Barca are taking both competitions seriously and Sevilla, who lost to Real Madrid in the 2014 Super Cup, will have to take them on without Aleix Vidal, their Catalan winger who was bought by Barca in the summer. Vidal is the latest in a long line of Sevilla players to have made the move to Camp Nou following Daniel Alves, Seydou Keita and Ivan Rakitic. But because of a Fifa ban, neither Vidal or fellow new signing Arda Turan will be able to play for Barca until January 2016 after the club broke the rules on signing foreign under-aged players.
There will be departures to go with Xavi, the club’s most successful player with more appearances than any other for the club, and Ibrahim Affelay who has moved to Premier League side Stoke City. Gerard Deulofeu, a Catalan striker who spent last season on loan at Sevilla, has also relocated to England, joining Everton, where he spent 2013/14 on loan. Defender Martin Montoya is the only other confirmed departure so far, moving to Inter Milan on a one-year loan.
The most high-profile departure though is likely to be Pedro. The Canarian, who has played in Barca’s preseason games — one win, three successive defeats so far — wants to join Manchester United, and United want him, too. The English club believe the Spanish forward will complete their summer signings of attacking players and Pedro is inclined to move because he is not being given enough minutes and will struggle to dislodge any of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar as part of Barcelona’s glorious front three.
Pedro, who was a European and World Cup winner within two years of breaking into Barca’s first team in 2008, has been patient and, ideally, would like to remain in Barcelona, where he lives with his locally born wife and their son — plus their dog Ronaldo — but he wants to play more.
Pedro is now 28, with over 300 Barca games and 50 appearances for Spain. If his career ended tomorrow then it still would have been a massive success, and while having been involved in 50 games for Barcelona last season sounds impressive, he started in only 15 of 38 league games and just four of the 13 Uefa Champions League matches, a minute of which came in the final against Juventus in Berlin. His 11 goals were well down on his total of 19 the previous season. If he doesn’t play then he can’t score.
Barca have yet to receive an offer from United, but the English club will be expected to pay €30 million (Dh121m), with variables, far less than the €150 million buy out clause included when he signed a new contract two days before the Champions League final in June. If he moves to Manchester, he will earn more money, too.
When Pedro first took to the pitch in celebration as Barcelona won the title, in 2009, he went against the grain of Barca players shouting: “Forever Barca, Forever Catalunya” by hollering “Forever Barca, Forever Tenerife!” Even the most sober Catalans laughed.
They won’t be laughing if he says his goodbyes on Wednesday night, and while neither they nor Enrique want to see him go, they will understand his reasons should he choose to do so.
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TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
Saudi Cup race day
Schedule in UAE time
5pm: Mohamed Yousuf Naghi Motors Cup (Turf), 5.35pm: 1351 Cup (T), 6.10pm: Longines Turf Handicap (T), 6.45pm: Obaiya Arabian Classic for Purebred Arabians (Dirt), 7.30pm: Jockey Club Handicap (D), 8.10pm: Samba Saudi Derby (D), 8.50pm: Saudia Sprint (D), 9.40pm: Saudi Cup (D)
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final:
First leg: Liverpool 5 Roma 2
Second leg: Wednesday, May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
TV: BeIN Sports, 10.45pm (UAE)
What is type-1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is a genetic and unavoidable condition, rather than the lifestyle-related type 2 diabetes.
It occurs mostly in people under 40 and a result of the pancreas failing to produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugars.
Too much or too little blood sugar can result in an attack where sufferers lose consciousness in serious cases.
Being overweight or obese increases the chances of developing the more common type 2 diabetes.
Company%20Profile
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BABYLON
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APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Voices: How A Great Singer Can Change Your Life
Nick Coleman
Jonathan Cape
About Takalam
Date started: early 2020
Founders: Khawla Hammad and Inas Abu Shashieh
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech and wellness
Number of staff: 4
Funding to date: Bootstrapped
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Brief scores
Barcelona 2
Pique 36', Alena 87'
Villarreal 0
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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More on Quran memorisation:
The specs
Engine: 2x201bhp AC Permanent-magnetic electric
Transmission: n/a
Power: 402bhp
Torque: 659Nm
Price estimate: Dh200,000
On sale: Q3 2022
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Aquaman%20and%20the%20Lost%20Kingdom
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
More Iraq election coverage:
Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
'Manmarziyaan' (Colour Yellow Productions, Phantom Films)
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal
Rating: 3.5/5
Profile Box
Company/date started: 2015
Founder/CEO: Mohammed Toraif
Based: Manama, Bahrain
Sector: Sales, Technology, Conservation
Size: (employees/revenue) 4/ 5,000 downloads
Stage: 1 ($100,000)
Investors: Two first-round investors including, 500 Startups, Fawaz Al Gosaibi Holding (Saudi Arabia)
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Power: 110 horsepower
Torque: 147Nm
Price: From Dh59,700
On sale: now
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
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A%20QUIET%20PLACE
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The most expensive investment mistake you will ever make
When is the best time to start saving in a pension? The answer is simple – at the earliest possible moment. The first pound, euro, dollar or dirham you invest is the most valuable, as it has so much longer to grow in value. If you start in your twenties, it could be invested for 40 years or more, which means you have decades for compound interest to work its magic.
“You get growth upon growth upon growth, followed by more growth. The earlier you start the process, the more it will all roll up,” says Chris Davies, chartered financial planner at The Fry Group in Dubai.
This table shows how much you would have in your pension at age 65, depending on when you start and how much you pay in (it assumes your investments grow 7 per cent a year after charges and you have no other savings).
|
Age
|
$250 a month
|
$500 a month
|
$1,000 a month
|
|
25
|
$640,829
|
$1,281,657
|
$2,563,315
|
|
35
|
$303,219
|
$606,439
|
$1,212,877
|
|
45
|
$131,596
|
$263,191
|
$526,382
|
|
55
|
$44,351
|
$88,702
|
$177,403
|
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 247hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm from 1,500-3,500rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 7.8L/100km
Price: from Dh94,900
On sale: now
Coal Black Mornings
Brett Anderson
Little Brown Book Group
