José Mourinho has softened a little towards Claudio Ranieri since the autumn. When the Inter Milan head coach first came to Italy, amid a crash of symbols and drum-rolls to hail the arrival of the self-styled best coach in the world in Serie A, he chose to cultivate certain enmities.
Ranieri was an easy target for the sort of sly barbs that are a feature of Mourinho's public utterances. Ranieri was easy because of what he and Mourinho shared: spells in charge of Chelsea, where Mourinho achieved more than Ranieri.
Cue a series of unflattering asides from the younger man: Ranieri was "a guy in his 70s who has not won much". Ranieri was a "manager before me at club who spent four years there and could hardly say 'Good morning' in English".
Ranieri took it all in good grace. When he celebrated his 57th birthday last October, he giggled with reporters that it must be his 71st. "You know what Mourinho's like," he told me, "it's just his way of adding spice to football."
Saturday's confrontation between first and second place teams at the summit of Italian football could probably use some extra pepper, even if it comes from one of Mourinho's tiresome tirades against his old - but not that old - rival. Juventus versus Inter should be a genuinely decisive fixture in the title race. With seven matches left in the league, it hardly looks it. Even if Juve beat the champions, the gap between will them still be seven points.
Inter have been sloppy again lately, just as they were during the major test of Mourinho's first season, in the Champions League against Manchester United. They let a two-goal lead against Palermo turn into a draw at San Siro at the weekend. As has tended to happen at crux periods through the campaign, Juve failed to take advantage. They also scored twice at Genoa, but lost 3-2. In Europe, they went out at the same stage of the principal competition as Inter.
Fairly soon, Serie A will contemplate who should be considered its coach of the year. The man who collects the scudetto, almost certainly Mourinho, has, naturally, a strong claim. But should, say, Genoa finish in the Champions League positions, that will rank as an admirable piece of work for their head coach, Gian Piero Gasperini. Genoa were only promoted to the top-flight in the summer of 2007. Fourth place is a handsome feather in Gasperini's cap.
Ranieri is entitled to similar praise. Juventus came up from Serie B with Genoa 21 months ago. Ranieri took over when, a year after their enforced demotion thanks to the calciopoli refereeing scandal, they resumed in Serie A.
Immediately, he got them back in the Champions League. Bravo. His ambition, he told me at the beginning of the season, was to finish a place higher in 2008-09. If Juve end up second, he will have achieved that.
If runners-up sounded a modest target, it acknowledged that, with relegation and the consequent loss of income, Juve are still short of the sort of resources that made them champions in 2005 and finish top of the table in 2006, that Inter, title-holders, have a superior momentum.
But Inter's problems resurface, notably how to manage the wayward Adriano, and the new Inter coach's solutions are no more effective than his predecessor's. Mourinho can claim this Inter were not built by him, but the decorations he brought in - wingers Mancini and Ricardo Quaresma - have both failed.
Alex Del Piero is no happier about being substituted by this coach than he was by Fabio Capello. Juve have also been sloppy at the back. Fans have begun to grumble that Ranieri should perhaps have shown more ambition.
ihawkey@thenational.ae
Dubai World Cup factbox
Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)
Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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The biog
Age: 59
From: Giza Governorate, Egypt
Family: A daughter, two sons and wife
Favourite tree: Ghaf
Runner up favourite tree: Frankincense
Favourite place on Sir Bani Yas Island: “I love all of Sir Bani Yas. Every spot of Sir Bani Yas, I love it.”
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
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Company%20profile
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Company%20Profile
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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
The Details
Kabir Singh
Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series
Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa
Rating: 2.5/5
The%20specs
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
MATCH INFO
Newcastle 2-2 Manchester City
Burnley 0-2 Crystal Palace
Chelsea 0-1 West Ham
Liverpool 2-1 Brighton
Tottenham 3-2 Bournemouth
Southampton v Watford (late)
The specs
Price: From Dh529,000
Engine: 5-litre V8
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Power: 520hp
Torque: 625Nm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.8L/100km
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
UAE SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Adel Al Hosani
Defenders: Bandar Al Ahbabi, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamis, Mohammed Barghash, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Hassan Al Mahrami, Yousef Jaber, Mohammed Al Attas
Midfielders: Ali Salmeen, Abdullah Ramadan, Abdullah Al Naqbi, Majed Hassan, Abdullah Hamad, Khalfan Mubarak, Khalil Al Hammadi, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Harib Abdallah, Mohammed Jumah
Forwards: Fabio De Lima, Caio Canedo, Ali Saleh, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue
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
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
The Bio
Favourite Emirati dish: I have so many because it has a lot of herbs and vegetables. Harees (oats with chicken) is one of them
Favourite place to go to: Dubai Mall because it has lots of sports shops.
Her motivation: My performance because I know that whatever I do, if I put the effort in, I’ll get results
During her free time: I like to drink coffee - a latte no sugar and no flavours. I do not like cold drinks
Pet peeve: That with every meal they give you a fries and Pepsi. That is so unhealthy
Advice to anyone who wants to be an ironman: Go for the goal. If you are consistent, you will get there. With the first one, it might not be what they want but they should start and just do it
