Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti lauded his players' "indomitable spirit" after they scored two late goals to beat Valencia 2-1 on Sunday and extend their unbeaten start to La Liga.
Valencia took the lead at the Mestalla when Hugo Duro struck midway through the second half, but Vinicius Jr levelled in the 86th minute before sending in a cross for Karim Benzema to head the visitors in front two minutes later.
The victory came four days after Madrid beat Inter Milan in the Champions League with an 89th-minute goal from Rodrygo. The Spanish side have now scored six goals in the final five minutes in five games in all competitions this season, and Ancelotti believes it shows his team have plenty of determination to match their talent.
"I have a team that scraps and fights whether they are playing well or playing badly," Ancelotti said. "We didn't beat them thanks to our quality, we did it thanks to our indomitable spirit. We kept going right until the end."
The win took Real to the top of La Liga's standings but Ancelotti expects his side to continue to improve as the season progresses.
"We have quite a young team and I'll be the first person to admit we're not playing spectacular football at the moment," he said.
"We didn't play well in the first half, we attacked well on the break but we were pegged back a lot and when you sit too deep it's easy to concede goals."
The defeat was hard to digest for Valencia manager Jose Bordalas, whose side overcame first-half injuries to Carlos Soler and Thierry Correia and had dominated the game until Madrid's late fightback.
"We're sad because the team made an incredible effort after the problems we had with Carlos and Correia," he said. "We did exactly what we wanted to do and played much better than them, pressing them high and controlling the game. We played 75 perfect minutes but we couldn't afford to drop our concentration for even a second.
"We were a little unlucky but we should have managed the last few minutes better. We didn't read the game well and ended up paying for our mistakes."
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE
Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.
Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.
Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
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U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
- Saturday 15 January: UAE beat Canada by 49 runs
- Thursday 20 January: v England
- Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad:
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles
Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly,
Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya
Shetty, Kai Smith
Company%20Profile
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India squads
T20: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Shivam Dube, Shardul Thakur
Test: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant
