• Sassuolo v Athletic Bilbao: Thursday, 9pm, BeIN Sports
• Thursday's fixtures
Shortly before kick off on Thursday night in the Mapei Stadium in Reggio Emilia, Italy, an anthem will be played to rouse the locals. The Hymn of the Neroverdi, it is called, the hymn of the black-and-greens.
Sassuolo, the team honoured, are certainly greenhorns at the level of football they will playing. This is the club’s opening match of the group phase of the Europa League. There would also be a case for tooting out a few bars of Italian national anthem to pay tribute to what they have done for their country.
Italy has much to be proud of in the rise of Sassuolo, a club from a conurbation of just over 40,000 people, an institution that nearly sunk into the fifth tier of the national pyramid in 2003. They only played their first fixture in Serie A a little over three years ago. Last season, they finished above AC Milan in the table. Their sixth-place finish last May gave them a chance of continental competition for the first time.
More from European football:
• Europa League fixtures: TV times (UAE) and schedule for opening week
• Uefa Champions League: Round-up from Tuesday's matches
• Dani Alves: Can Brazilian carry his European success over to Juve?
These bambinos of Italy’s elite have managed their rise in a way that is strikingly loyal to the national talent-pool, a rare thing these days for clubs from the most prestigious leagues. When Sassuolo signed Dutch defender Timo Letschert from Utrecht in the summer, they broke a habit well established throughout their rise up the divisions and during their three-year stay in the top flight. Letschert was unique for having been recruited from abroad.
In their line-up on Thursday against Athletic Bilbao, Letschert may not get a place. It is plausible that all 11 men in black-and-green stripes could be Italians. The exceptions are rare, and the other foreign players — Alfred Duncan of Ghana but owner of an Italian passport; Gregoire Defrel, who is French; and the newly arrived Spaniard Pol Lirola — all came to Sassuolo from within the Italian market. The rest are Italians, and Sassuolo are admired not only for their pluck but also for their apparent patriotism. Against the champions Juventus at the weekend, Sassuolo had 10 Italians in the starting XI.
That is a most unusual ratio in Serie A, where an average weekend will feature perhaps 90 Italians among the 220 players lining up for their clubs, and a higher proportion of foreigners at most of the clubs that tend to finish higher up the table.
As Claudio Ranieri, the seasoned Italian manager who won the Premier League with Leicester City last season, pointed out: “Sassuolo are in some ways like Udinese were a few years ago, a small club punching above their weight. But the model is very different. Udinese specialised in scouting good young players abroad. Sassuolo look in Italy.”
Ranieri added with a smile: “Sassuolo could become the Leicester of Italy.”
By which he meant their upstart rise might go even higher, and the public would warm to them.
Can a modern club, with ambition, keep raising standards, compete in Europe by restricting themselves to the local market? There are few examples, but perhaps the most inspiring is the club that visits Sassuolo on Thursday night.
Spain’s Athletic Bilbao are tied to a proud tradition of using only footballers with a strong connection to the Basque Country, the region Bilbao is the major city in. That can include the likes of France international Aymeric Laporte, born in the French Basque territory, just over the border from Spain’s Basque corner, and the only non-Spanish qualified player in their squad.
Athletic reduce their catchment area, their potential transfer targets with that dogmatic approach to squad-building. But in doing so they maintain a forceful cultural identity for the club. They have not done badly by it: the club have never been relegated from Spain’s top division, and they reached a Europa League final four years ago.
Athletic are the much worldlier club in Thursday night’s meeting of two teams, with a firm sense of their roots, and the Basques will see plenty they respect among the novice Neroverdis with the Azzurri hearts.
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Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
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Tonight's Chat on The National
Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Tailors and retailers miss out on back-to-school rush
Tailors and retailers across the city said it was an ominous start to what is usually a busy season for sales.
With many parents opting to continue home learning for their children, the usual rush to buy school uniforms was muted this year.
“So far we have taken about 70 to 80 orders for items like shirts and trousers,” said Vikram Attrai, manager at Stallion Bespoke Tailors in Dubai.
“Last year in the same period we had about 200 orders and lots of demand.
“We custom fit uniform pieces and use materials such as cotton, wool and cashmere.
“Depending on size, a white shirt with logo is priced at about Dh100 to Dh150 and shorts, trousers, skirts and dresses cost between Dh150 to Dh250 a piece.”
A spokesman for Threads, a uniform shop based in Times Square Centre Dubai, said customer footfall had slowed down dramatically over the past few months.
“Now parents have the option to keep children doing online learning they don’t need uniforms so it has quietened down.”
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- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
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- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Financial considerations before buying a property
Buyers should try to pay as much in cash as possible for a property, limiting the mortgage value to as little as they can afford. This means they not only pay less in interest but their monthly costs are also reduced. Ideally, the monthly mortgage payment should not exceed 20 per cent of the purchaser’s total household income, says Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching.
“If it’s a rental property, plan for the property to have periods when it does not have a tenant. Ensure you have enough cash set aside to pay the mortgage and other costs during these periods, ideally at least six months,” she says.
Also, shop around for the best mortgage interest rate. Understand the terms and conditions, especially what happens after any introductory periods, Ms Glynn adds.
Using a good mortgage broker is worth the investment to obtain the best rate available for a buyer’s needs and circumstances. A good mortgage broker will help the buyer understand the terms and conditions of the mortgage and make the purchasing process efficient and easier.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
ENGLAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers Henderson, Pickford, Pope.
Defenders Alexander-Arnold, Chilwell, Coady, Dier, Gomez, Keane, Maguire, Maitland-Niles, Mings, Saka, Trippier, Walker.
Midfielders Henderson, Mount, Phillips, Rice, Ward-Prowse, Winks.
Forwards Abraham, Barnes, Calvert-Lewin, Grealish, Ings, Kane, Rashford, Sancho, Sterling.
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UAE SQUAD
Khalid Essa (Al Ain), Ali Khaseif (Al Jazira), Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah), Mahmoud Khamis (Al Nasr), Yousef Jaber (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai), Khalifa Al Hammadi (Jazira), Salem Rashid (Jazira), Shaheen Abdelrahman (Sharjah), Faris Juma (Al Wahda), Mohammed Shaker (Al Ain), Mohammed Barghash (Wahda), Abdulaziz Haikal (Shabab Al Ahli), Ahmed Barman (Al Ain), Khamis Esmail (Wahda), Khaled Bawazir (Sharjah), Majed Surour (Sharjah), Abdullah Ramadan (Jazira), Mohammed Al Attas (Jazira), Fabio De Lima (Al Wasl), Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Khalfan Mubarak (Jazira), Habib Fardan (Nasr), Khalil Ibrahim (Wahda), Ali Mabkhout (Jazira), Ali Saleh (Wasl), Caio (Al Ain), Sebastian Tagliabue (Nasr).
