LONDON // Didier Drogba has denied he was part of a player conspiracy to get Luiz Felipe Scolari sacked as Chelsea manager.
Drogba, Michael Ballack and Petr Cech were accused of complaining about Scolari's methods when the club's owner, Roman Abramovich, met the players at their Cobham training ground.
But Drogba declared: "No, no, it's not true. The thing is, the boss was there all week and he spoke to all the players."
The striker added in an interview with Observer Sport Monthly: "It's wrong to say Ballack, Cech and me were having a meeting to decide about the future of one manager. It was a board decision, not the players' decision.
"We were all surprised that he went when he did, but everyone could see it was a bad situation and something had to change for the good of the team."
Scolari dropped Drogba after the 3-0 defeat by Manchester United at Old Trafford in January. The Brazilian pointed to a loss of confidence by the Ivorian striker, but Drogba disagreed.
"I've never had a problem with my confidence," he added. "It's not about my confidence, it's still high. I know what I can bring to our team. I don't really agree with what he said. This is his opinion, but everyone has opinions."
Scolari's replacement, Guus Hiddink, has guided Chelsea to three consecutive wins since he agreed to take charge of the side until the summer and Drogba's match winner against Juventus in the Champions League in midweek was testament to his rejuvenation under the Dutchman.
"He [Hiddink] has sent us very positive messages and I think he wants us to believe and win games and that's the thing we have to concentrate on now," said Drogba.
Meanwhile, the Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez all but conceded the Premier League title to Manchester United after seeing his side lose 2-0 at Middlesbrough on Saturday.
Asked after the game if he thought the title race was over, Benitez, whose side are now third, above Chelsea on goal difference, and seven points behind United having played a game more, said: "Before the game, it was very difficult - after the game, it is more difficult.
"It depends on United. It will be more difficult, clearly."
sports@thenational.ae
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Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
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Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Two-step truce
The UN-brokered ceasefire deal for Hodeidah will be implemented in two stages, with the first to be completed before the New Year begins, according to the Arab Coalition supporting the Yemeni government.
By midnight on December 31, the Houthi rebels will have to withdraw from the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Issa and Al Saqef, coalition officials told The National.
The second stage will be the complete withdrawal of all pro-government forces and rebels from Hodeidah city, to be completed by midnight on January 7.
The process is to be overseen by a Redeployment Co-ordination Committee (RCC) comprising UN monitors and representatives of the government and the rebels.
The agreement also calls the deployment of UN-supervised neutral forces in the city and the establishment of humanitarian corridors to ensure distribution of aid across the country.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Anna and the Apocalypse
Director: John McPhail
Starring: Ella Hunt, Malcolm Cumming, Mark Benton
Three stars
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
