The group phase of the 2009-2010 Champions League is unusually replete with what nostalgics would call "classics".
Juventus against Bayern Munich, which comes up on the calendar before the end of October, is one such game, Inter Milan against Barcelona tomorrow is another. But the match to really remind of why and for what this competition came into being, replacing the old, strictly knockout European Cup is tonight's confrontation in the south of France: Olympique Marseille versus AC Milan.
These were the sides who contested the first final of the new-look, modernist, elitist tournament devised by Uefa, European football's governing body, to update what they deemed a stagnating European Cup. They called it the grandiloquent Champions League and its debut final would certainly offer theatre. France's biggest club against Italy's most successful in Europe, and in Munich that night in May, an atmosphere befitting two heavyweight clubs.
"It was just beautiful, looking up at the stands and seeing all that blue and red," remembers Marcel Desailly, a giant of the Champions League for more than a decade, and a man for whom OM versus Milan will always carry a particular frisson. "Marseille was the club I supported, even before I played for them," he explained, "and though Milan would become the club that gave me so much later, I will always have an emotional bond with OM: a lot of Frenchmen of my generation did.
"We grew up in the game before the Bosman ruling, so we looked at our own domestic football teams, and in that era, OM was as big as it came in France.
"I was so keyed up that day: 25 years old and playing in a Champions League final, though we still couldn't help calling it the European Cup then. But we also knew we were facing a side from another dimension: AC Milan."
Yet OM won, 1-0, and their athletic, Ghanaian-born defender confirmed in the match the favourable impression that Milan had long held of him. Desailly would join the club who had lost the inaugural, 1993 Champions League final promptly, and in time to win, with Milan, the 1994 version.
It was a wise switch. The French club he had left would become involved in a match-fixing scandal surrounding their domestic campaign in the year they became France's first and only Champions League winners that would eventually see them relegated; Milan, with Desailly a mountain in their midfield or their defence, grew to pre-eminence in the mid-1990s.
And it is from that perspective that Desailly will view tonight's game, for which he has travelled from what is now his home in Ghana to France to scrutinise it as a television analyst.
"Apologies to my dear Milan," he smiles, "but I am with OM as a fan, and also believe that, whatever Milan's problems may be at this moment, OM need the lift that comes from a good showing in the Champions League." For the best part of eight years, Marseille have lived in the shadow of Lyon as France's most muscular European team. The city demands better.
To paraphrase Desailly's recall of that famous final, 17 seasons ago, OM might fancy that this Milan are also a team "from another dimension", a dimension some milanisti are struggling to recognise.
Milan, 10th in the Serie A table, return today to Champions League action after a year's absence.
"They are having a tough time right now," says Desailly, "but you cannot blame the coach. Leonardo is intelligent, and an excellent choice. I just think he may have been unlucky when he took over this squad. They have just lost some leaders: Kaka, Paolo Maldini and Carlo Ancelotti, and football clubs move in cycles. Milan are at a low point and, at a club whose Italian players have always been important, they are no longer producing players from within."
ihawkey@thenational.ae
Marseille v Milan, KO 10.45pm, Aljazeera Sport + 4
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
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Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
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If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
The biog
Favourite book: Men are from Mars Women are from Venus
Favourite travel destination: Ooty, a hill station in South India
Hobbies: Cooking. Biryani, pepper crab are her signature dishes
Favourite place in UAE: Marjan Island
