Esteghlal 2 Al Jazira 2
Esteghlal Najafabadi 17', Omranzadeh 65'
Al Jazira Barrada 6', 56'
Man of the match Abdelaziz Barrada (Al Jazira)
Al Jazira seem to have cracked this Asian Champions League lark.
Having spent last season’s continental competition lurching from one disappointment to another, the Abu Dhabi side now lead Group A after three rounds, an unbeaten run stretched by Tuesday night’s draw to three matches.
Hot on the heels of last week’s history-making victory in Saudi Arabia – Jazira became the first UAE club to win there – Walter Zenga’s men travelled to Iran to face an Esteghlal side who in September contested the 2013 tournament’s semi-final.
It mattered little that this year Esteghlal had suffered two defeats; the Azadi Stadium has been an unpleasant outpost for Emirates clubs in the past. Yet Jazira have always enjoyed tussling with the Tehran team, and emerged from their most-recent skirmish with their blemish-free record intact: in seven meetings with Esteghlal, Jazira have yet to be beaten.
Where they triumphed in 2012 en route to a last-16 place, this 2-2 draw may prove just as valuable. Its worth was swift to appreciate, when in the sixth minute, Abdelaziz Barrada, Jazira’s elegant playmaker, latched onto Felipe Caicedo’s pull-back to calmly place his shot into the home goal.
Barrada’s strike continued a trend, as Jazira have burst from the blocks in each of their Group A encounters, scoring within the first 10 minutes in all three matches. However, they were quickly hauled back when, 12 minutes later, Esteghlal’s Mohammed Ghazi rose highest between two Jazira defenders to plant a sublime header low past Ali Kasheif in the visiting goal.
Barrada, though, would restore Jazira’s supremacy shortly after half time. The Moroccan, impressive in his debut season with the club, received the ball on the edge of the Esteghlal area, drifted past a rival and drilled a low shot into the corner.
Buoyed by the lead, Jazira quickly threatened to run away with the match, only to concede on 63 minutes from an Esteghlal corner when Hanif Omranzadeh directed his header past a stationary Kasheif.
A frantic final quarter then played out, with Jazira thankful for a resolute Kasheif. The UAE national team’s No 1 matched his reputation with a succession of fine stops, although he saved the best until last with an injury-time, point-blank block from Boubacar Kebe’s close-range effort.
There was still time for Barrada to strike a post moments before the final whistle and, while Jazira will rue the upright’s intervention, they can content themselves with mission accomplished.
Halfway through the group, they are more than halfway to the knock-out stages. Following last season’s travails, Jazira have finally found their Asian feet.
Forlan finally off the mark while Guangzhou overcome Jeonbuk
Trophy-holders Guangzhou Evergrande seized control of their Asian Champions League group with a 3-1 win over Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors on Tuesday, as Uruguay striker Diego Forlan scored his first goal for Cerezo Osaka.
A first-half double from Guangzhou striker Gao Lin and a third from Liao Lisheng, either side of Lee Dong-gook’s solo effort, settled a flowing game and lifted the Chinese and Asian champions three points clear in Group G.
Marcello Lippi’s men are now in familiar territory halfway through the group stage as they bid to become only the second team to successfully defend the AFC title.
Uruguay international Forlan opened his account for Japan’s Cerezo Osaka in their 4-0 win over Thai champions Buriram United, and Melbourne Victory got the first win of their campaign, a 1-0 win over Japan’s Yokohama F Marinos.
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Raha%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Kuwait%2FSaudi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Tech%20Logistics%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2414%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Soor%20Capital%2C%20eWTP%20Arabia%20Capital%2C%20Aujan%20Enterprises%2C%20Nox%20Management%2C%20Cedar%20Mundi%20Ventures%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20166%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
CABINET%20OF%20CURIOSITIES%20EPISODE%201%3A%20LOT%2036
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EGuillermo%20del%20Toro%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Tim%20Blake%20Nelson%2C%20Sebastian%20Roche%2C%20Elpidia%20Carrillo%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Sukuk explained
Sukuk are Sharia-compliant financial certificates issued by governments, corporates and other entities. While as an asset class they resemble conventional bonds, there are some significant differences. As interest is prohibited under Sharia, sukuk must contain an underlying transaction, for example a leaseback agreement, and the income that is paid to investors is generated by the underlying asset. Investors must also be prepared to share in both the profits and losses of an enterprise. Nevertheless, sukuk are similar to conventional bonds in that they provide regular payments, and are considered less risky than equities. Most investors would not buy sukuk directly due to high minimum subscriptions, but invest via funds.
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
MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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"
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
