Al Ahli suffered an injury-time heartbreak against Al Hilal on Tuesday night, going down 2-1 in Riyadh after having taken an early lead in their Group A match of the AFC Champions League.
Ahmed Khalil put the visitors ahead in the 13th minute, but Yasser al Qahtani levelled the scores in the 32nd minute. The stalemate continued till the hosts earned a penalty in added time and the Romanian Mirel Radoi converted from the spot to seal Hilal's first win of this AFC Champions League.
Ahli deserved at least a point from the game, if not more, having started the game as the better side of the two. Hilal looked a bit jaded at the start, playing less than 72 hours after defeating Ettiifaq in a Saudi Professional League game.
The opening goal was a consequence of their lethargy as Mohammed al Nakhil, under pressure from Khalil, slipped as he turned around to make a pass. Ahli's teenaged star, the 2008 Asian Best Youth Player, made full use of this largesse, sprinting down with the ball, stopping briefly for Hilal keeper Mohammed al Deayea to make his move and then placing the ball low to his left.
The early reversal brought Hilal out of their slumber and Tareq Ibrahim tested Ahli keeper Obaid al Tawila twice in successive minutes, while al Qahtani came close to equalising with a header in the 23rd minute.
The Saudi marksman eventually succeeded in restoring parity in the 32nd minute, heading home Seol Ki-Hyeon's cross after the South Korean, on loan from Fulham, had raced down the left through a maze of defenders.
Ahli should have taken the lead again in the 49th minute, but were denied twice by the woodwork. Bare, forcing his way into the box, volleyed into the left post; the rebound fell for Khalil, but his shot bounced off the right upright.
At the other end, al Tawila stood firm under the Ahli bar, diving to punch away Mirel Radoi's stinger in the 63rd minute and stopping al Qahtani's shot from inside the box.
The action, at both ends, continued unabated with the best chance coming Clederson Cesar's way in the 82nd minute, when he found himself with just the Hilal keeper to beat. The Brazilian tried to flick the ball over al Deayea, but the custodian had the shot covered.
The stalemate continued into added time and the game seemed headed for a draw till the fortuitous hosts earned a penalty when al Qahtani was brought down by Mohammed Qassim.
Radoi converted from the spot to seal three points for Hilal and take their tally to five points. Pakhtakor lead the group with seven points, while Ahli lie at the bottom on one.
arizvi@thenational.ae
It's Monty Python's Crashing Rocket Circus
To the theme tune of the famous zany British comedy TV show, SpaceX has shown exactly what can go wrong when you try to land a rocket.
The two minute video posted on YouTube is a compilation of crashes and explosion as the company, created by billionaire Elon Musk, refined the technique of reusable space flight.
SpaceX is able to land its rockets on land once they have completed the first stage of their mission, and is able to resuse them multiple times - a first for space flight.
But as the video, How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster, demonstrates, it was a case if you fail, try and try again.
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
BELGIUM%20SQUAD
%3Cp%3EGoalkeepers%3A%20Thibaut%20Courtois%2C%20Simon%20Mignolet%2C%20Koen%20Casteels%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EDefenders%3A%20Jan%20Vertonghen%2C%20Toby%20Alderweireld%2C%20Leander%20Dendoncker%2C%20Zeno%20Debast%2C%20Arthur%20Theate%2C%20Wout%20Faes%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EMidfielders%3A%20Hans%20Vanaken%2C%20Axel%20Witsel%2C%20Youri%20Tielemans%2C%20Amadou%20Onana%2C%20Kevin%20De%20Bruyne%2C%20Yannick%20Carrasco%2C%20Thorgan%20Hazard%2C%20Timothy%20Castagne%2C%20Thomas%20Meunier%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EForwards%3A%20Romelu%20Lukaku%2C%20Michy%20Batshuayi%2C%20Lo%C3%AFs%20Openda%2C%20Charles%20De%20Ketelaere%2C%20Eden%20Hazard%2C%20Jeremy%20Doku%2C%20Dries%20Mertens%2C%20Leandro%20Trossard%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
The%20Genius%20of%20Their%20Age
%3Cp%3EAuthor%3A%20S%20Frederick%20Starr%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20Oxford%20University%20Press%3Cbr%3EPages%3A%20290%3Cbr%3EAvailable%3A%20January%2024%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League last-16, second leg:
Real Madrid 1 (Asensio 70'), Ajax 4 (Ziyech 7', Neres 18', Tadic 62', Schone 72')
Ajax win 5-3 on aggregate
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
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
UAE%20PREMIERSHIP
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AS%20WE%20EXIST
%3Cp%3EAuthor%3A%20Kaoutar%20Harchi%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EPublisher%3A%20Other%20Press%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EPages%3A%20176%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAvailable%3A%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now