MILAN // Champions Juventus travel to struggling Sassuolo on Saturday looking to maintain their lead at the top of Serie A, while nearest challengers Roma insist the fight for the title has just begun.
Juventus moved three points clear at the summit two weeks ago after a bad-tempered 3-2 win over Roma in Turin which saw the Bianconeri concede their first goals of the campaign.
Read more: Inter Milan ‘aware of our problems’ after Fiorentina take things from bad to worse
Despite their defeat, Roma goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis insists the top-of-the-table clash showed Massimiliano Allegri’s men the capital club are a force to be reckoned with as they prepare to host Chievo on Saturday.
“We don’t want to finish second, we want to win (the league). We can do it, we realised that after seeing their reaction,” De Sanctis said in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport on Thursday.
Almost a fortnight after an explosive encounter that saw five goals, three penalties and two red cards as well as the sending-off of Roma coach Rudi Garcia, the dust has yet to settle.
De Sanctis on Thursday repeated allegations, notably by Giallorossi captain Francesco Totti, that Juventus benefit from favourable refereeing decisions.
“You have to know how to lose, but it is hard to accept certain decisions when you have the feeling you’re not playing on an equal footing,” said the ‘keeper, who played for Juve at the start of his career.
While the champions have steadfastly rejected the accusations, Juve defender Angelo Ogbonna went on the charm offensive when he told Sky Sport: “We don’t underestimate any of our opponents.
“Roma are a top side, they’ve done well in the transfer market with a view to the Champions League.”
Both Roma and Juve are expected to rest key players whenever possible this weekend ahead of midweek Champions League clashes against Bayern Munich and Olympiakos respectively.
Inter host Napoli in the pick of Sunday’s fixtures when home coach Walter Mazzarri will be firmly in the spotlight.
Mazzarri steered Napoli to a runners-up spot in 2013 but has struggled to work his magic with the Nerazzurri, who recently dropped to 10th place following consecutive defeats to Cagliari (4-1) and Fiorentina (3-0).
Inter’s recent woes prompted club president Erick Thohir to demand affirmative action, and French midfielder Yann M’Vila said the Indonesian tycoon’s message had been loud and clear.
“Yes, we certainly got the president’s message,” M’Vila told Sky Sport during the international break last week.
“The mental approach is something we have to work out between us, within the team. Next we’ll play against Napoli at home and we absolutely have to win; for ourselves, for our morale, and to stay on course this season.”
Rafael Benitez’s Napoli will feel confident of causing an upset at the San Siro on Sunday having strung two consecutive wins together following a three-game winless run.
The visitors’ cause will not be harmed by Inter’s growing injury list. Striker Pablo Daniel Osvaldo is out for a month, joining a casualty list that already includes defender Danilo D’Ambrosio.
Mazzarri also has doubts over the availability of Jonathan and influential Croatian midfielder Mateo Kovacic, as well as Japanese wing-back Yuto Nagatomo, Gary Medel and Fredy Guarin.
City rivals AC Milan travel to Verona looking to make it two wins out of two against sides from the northern city, having accounted for Chievo 2-0 at the San Siro a fortnight ago.
Coach Filippo Inzaghi has been bolstered by ‘keeper Diego Lopez’s return to training following a thigh injury suffered in a 5-4 win away to Parma a month ago.
Milan, however, could be without influential French forward Jeremy Menez, who did not train with the main squad on Thursday as he continues to recover from a groin injury.
Menez’s possible absence could pave the way for rarely-used striker Stephan El Shaarawy to come into the side.
Italian Serie A fixtures (in UAE time)
Saturday
Roma v Chievo, 8pm
Sassuolo v Juventus, 10.45pm
Sunday
Fiorentina v Lazio, 4.30pm
Atalanta v Parma, 5pm
Cagliari v Sampdoria, 5pm
Verona v Milan, 5pm
Palermo v Cesena, 5pm
Torino v Udinese, 5pm
Inter v Napoli, 10.45pm
Genoa v Empoli, 10.45pm
Follow our sports coverage on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hoopla%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EDate%20started%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMarch%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Jacqueline%20Perrottet%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2010%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20required%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24500%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Kill%20Bill%20Volume%201
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Quentin%20Tarantino%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Uma%20Thurman%2C%20David%20Carradine%20and%20Michael%20Madsen%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%204.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Changing visa rules
For decades the UAE has granted two and three year visas to foreign workers, tied to their current employer. Now that's changing.
Last year, the UAE cabinet also approved providing 10-year visas to foreigners with investments in the UAE of at least Dh10 million, if non-real estate assets account for at least 60 per cent of the total. Investors can bring their spouses and children into the country.
It also approved five-year residency to owners of UAE real estate worth at least 5 million dirhams.
The government also said that leading academics, medical doctors, scientists, engineers and star students would be eligible for similar long-term visas, without the need for financial investments in the country.
The first batch - 20 finalists for the Mohammed bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Distinction.- were awarded in January and more are expected to follow.
The%20Continental%3A%20From%20the%20World%20of%20John%20Wick%20
%3Cp%3ECreated%20by%3A%20Greg%20Coolidge%2C%20Shawn%20Simmons%2C%20Kirk%20Ward%3Cbr%3EStars%3A%20Mel%20Gibson%2C%20Colin%20Woodell%2C%20Mishel%20Prada%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
RESULTS
Dubai Kahayla Classic – Group 1 (PA) $750,000 (Dirt) 2,000m
Winner: Deryan, Ioritz Mendizabal (jockey), Didier Guillemin (trainer).
Godolphin Mile – Group 2 (TB) $750,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Secret Ambition, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
Dubai Gold Cup – Group 2 (TB) $750,000 (Turf) 3,200m
Winner: Subjectivist, Joe Fanning, Mark Johnston
Al Quoz Sprint – Group 1 (TB) $1million (T) 1,200m
Winner: Extravagant Kid, Ryan Moore, Brendan Walsh
UAE Derby – Group 2 (TB) $750,000 (D) 1,900m
Winner: Rebel’s Romance, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
Dubai Golden Shaheen – Group 1 (TB) $1.5million (D) 1,200m
Winner: Zenden, Antonio Fresu, Carlos David
Dubai Turf – Group 1 (TB) $4million (T) 1,800m
Winner: Lord North, Frankie Dettori, John Gosden
Dubai Sheema Classic – Group 1 (TB) $5million (T) 2,410m
Winner: Mishriff, John Egan, John Gosden
England-South Africa Test series
1st Test England win by 211 runs at Lord's, London
2nd Test South Africa win by 340 runs at Trent Bridge, Nottingham
3rd Test July 27-31 at The Oval, London
4th Test August 4-8 at Old Trafford, Manchester
About Housecall
Date started: July 2020
Founders: Omar and Humaid Alzaabi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech
# of staff: 10
Funding to date: Self-funded
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
The permutations for UAE going to the 2018 World Cup finals
To qualify automatically
UAE must beat Iraq.
Australia must lose in Japan and at home to Thailand, with their losing margins and the UAE's winning margin over Iraq being enough to overturn a goal difference gap of eight.
Saudi Arabia must lose to Japan, with their losing margin and the UAE's winning margin over Iraq being enough to overturn a goal difference gap of eight.
To finish third and go into a play-off with the other third-placed AFC side for a chance to reach the inter-confederation play-off match
UAE must beat Iraq.
Saudi Arabia must lose to Japan, with their losing margin and the UAE's winning margin over Iraq being enough to overturn a goal difference gap of eight.
MATCH INFO
Europa League semi-final, second leg
Atletico Madrid (1) v Arsenal (1)
Where: Wanda Metropolitano
When: Thursday, kick-off 10.45pm
Live: On BeIN Sports HD
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Fasset%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2019%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mohammad%20Raafi%20Hossain%2C%20Daniel%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%242.45%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2086%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Pre-series%20B%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Investcorp%2C%20Liberty%20City%20Ventures%2C%20Fatima%20Gobi%20Ventures%2C%20Primal%20Capital%2C%20Wealthwell%20Ventures%2C%20FHS%20Capital%2C%20VN2%20Capital%2C%20local%20family%20offices%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
FIXTURES
Thursday
Dibba v Al Dhafra, Fujairah Stadium (5pm)
Al Wahda v Hatta, Al Nahyan Stadium (8pm)
Friday
Al Nasr v Ajman, Zabeel Stadium (5pm)
Al Jazria v Al Wasl, Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium (8pm)
Saturday
Emirates v Al Ain, Emirates Club Stadium (5pm)
Sharjah v Shabab Al Ahli Dubai, Sharjah Stadium (8pm)
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.
