Manchester City's Sergio Aguero, right, vies for the ball against Liverpool's Steven Gerrard during the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final.
Manchester City's Sergio Aguero, right, vies for the ball against Liverpool's Steven Gerrard during the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final.

Mancini-Gerrard flare-up over tackle after Manchester City lose to Liverpool



The Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini and Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard were embroiled in a war of words following the clubs' League Cup semi-final clash at Eastlands.

Gerrard's early penalty gave the visitors a 1-0 first leg lead to take back to Anfield but Wednesday's game was overshadowed by a late, two-footed challenge by Glen Johnson, theLiverpool defender, on City's Joleon Lescott.

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An angry Mancini claimed that the tackle, which went unpunished by referee Lee Mason, was worse than the offence committed by City's Vincent Kompany early in Sunday's FA Cup defeat by Manchester United, an incident which brought the defender a straight red card and a four-match suspension.

Mancini's claims were not appreciated by Gerrard, however, and the Italian and the England midfielder had a heated discussion about the incident in the tunnel after the game.

"No, I don't think so," said Gerrard when asked whether he felt Johnson should have been red-carded. "It was a clear winner of the tackle.

"I'm surprised at that [Mancini's comments]. He had a go at Wayne Rooney last Sunday for trying to get one of his players sent off. Now he's trying to get one of our players in trouble. I don't think that works."

Mancini, though, had a different interpretation of the incident, one which television replays seemed to support.

"Johnson's tackle against Lescott, it was worse than the one Vinny did against United," said the City manager. "Everyone could see that.

"The world is going down because there are people in every job who make a mistake and do not apologise. I make a mistake and apologise.

"This tackle was worse. Gerrard came to me and said 'You said'...

"Steven Gerrard can say what he wants for me, no problem. I said what I think. I'm used to being like this. It's not important, Steven Gerrard or other players."

The late flashpoint marred a match in which City slumped to their fourth defeat in eight games.

Without brothers Kolo and Yaya Toure, on international duty with the Ivory Coast, plus the suspended Kompany and injured David Silva, City looked a shadow of the side that have built a three-point lead at the top of the Premier League.

"We played two difficult games," said Mancini of two home losses in four days followed a run of 30 unbeaten matches at Eastlands.

"I knew this before, January would be an important month for us because we have lost three or four important players and would probably have some problems. Both games, I didn't think we deserved to lose, but we lost."

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish was pleased with his team's display but refused to accept the return leg, in two weeks, would now be a much easier match for his side.

"In the second-half, after getting the goal advantage, we just battened down the hatches," he said.

"Not too many teams have come here and not had goals against, so it's a fantastic effort by us.

"We might have a slight advantage with the goal, but there will be nobody jumping through hoops. We'll just be as professional as we can at our place."

Dalglish, who claimed not to have seen the Johnson foul that incensed Mancini, was full of praise for match-winner Gerrard, looking back to near his best form after an injury-plagued year.

"Steven will get better every time he finishes a match," said Dalglish. "He is gaining the benefit from it as well, so it's great to see him back."

EPL OFFICIAL CONTENT WITH ACTION ON RACISM

Richard Scudamore, the Premier League chief executive, insists the spate of recent racism cases has not harmed the English game, claiming that other countries might not have acted so decisively.

Liverpool forward Luis Suarez is serving an eight-game suspension for racially abusing a black opponent, while Chelsea captain John Terry will appear in court next month on a charge of making a racist insult during another league match in October.

Asked if the league's brand had been damaged by the cases, Scudamore responded: "No I don't think so ... I am absolutely confident that English football's record of dealing with this issue is good."

Scudamore added that the swift action is "far better than what goes on in many other countries."

"When it comes to the racism issue there is zero tolerance," Scudamore said late Wednesday. "We as a sport have led the line and continue to lead the line, there's no room for it."

Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Rating: 2/5
 
LAST-16 FIXTURES

Sunday, January 20
3pm: Jordan v Vietnam at Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai
6pm: Thailand v China at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
9pm: Iran v Oman at Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Monday, January 21
3pm: Japan v Saudi Arabia at Sharjah Stadium
6pm: Australia v Uzbekistan at Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
9pm: UAE v Kyrgyzstan at Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Tuesday, January 22
5pm: South Korea v Bahrain at Rashid Stadium, Dubai
8pm: Qatar v Iraq at Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Top tips to avoid cyber fraud

Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:

1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.

2. After installing the latest OS version, keep it patched; this means repairing system vulnerabilities which are discovered after the infrastructure components are released in the market. The vast majority of attacks are based on out of date components – there are missing patches.

3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.

4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.

5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.

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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
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
Business Insights
  • Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
  • The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
  • US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
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Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode

Directors: Raj & DK

Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon

Rating: 4/5

SPECS

Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now

Types of bank fraud

1) Phishing

Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.

2) Smishing

The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.

3) Vishing

The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.

4) SIM swap

Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.

5) Identity theft

Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.

6) Prize scams

Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo

The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
​​​​​​​Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km

The team

Photographer: Mateusz Stefanowski at Art Factory 
Videographer: Jear Valasquez 
Fashion director: Sarah Maisey
Make-up: Gulum Erzincan at Art Factory 
Model: Randa at Art Factory Videographer’s assistant: Zanong Magat 
Photographer’s assistant: Sophia Shlykova 
With thanks to Jubail Mangrove Park, Jubail Island, Abu Dhabi 

 

 

 

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