La Masia’s struggles to provide talent are affecting the ‘B’ team’s fortunes, writes Andy Mitten
Barcelona last week unveiled plans for a new 6,000-seat stadium on the outskirts of the Catalan capital, which will be used by their “B” team.
Costing €40 million (Dh158.1m) and expected to open in August 2017, it will form part of their expanding training ground complex, which they recently renamed after former coach Tito Vilanova, who died of cancer a year ago.
The existing 16,500-capacity Mini Estadi, which sits on prime land by the city’s polo club, will be knocked down and replaced by an indoor arena used by the club’s basketball team. A public space in front of Camp Nou will be created also, a move that will pacify residents and satisfy the club, which wants fans to spend more time at the stadium before matches.
The Mini Estadi is seldom full and even a second-tier clasico only attracted a crowd of 11,000 last season, while average crowds for the reserve team are about 3,000. That’s more than the reserve sides of almost every team in world football manage to attract, but the venue is ageing and the seating capacity is at least four times bigger than needed these days.
Barca are raising funds for a huge redevelopment of Camp Nou, too, which is slated to begin in 2017, but club elections this year may see those plans changed.
Following the relegation of Real Madrid’s second string last term, Barca B are the only reserve team in Spain’s second division. They had dropped as low as the fourth division, but Pep Guardiola led them to promotion in 2008 before graduating to the first team.
They were promoted again in 2011 and have been in Spain’s second division since, just as they were for the majority of the 1990s.
The team’s existence gives emerging players the chance to play against the first teams of major clubs, such as Real Zaragoza, Betis, Sporting Gijon, Osasuna or Las Palmas. Barca B have often excelled and finished in the top 10 in each of the past four seasons.
They were third last term, but promotion was denied to them as reserve teams are unable to play in the same league as the senior team.
This season has not gone so well. Despite regular appearances from players with first-team experience including Munir el Haddadi, Sergi Samper and Jean Marie Dongou, the team are 21st in the 22-team league. Four are relegated each season and only 11 games remain.
Barca B’s problems are many. For the first time in their history, they dismissed their coach, the former first-team player Eusebio Sacristan. He was popular with the players, but a huge problem for Barca B is that their team has wholesale changes every year.
Seven players departed or were sent on loan this season, including the best ones, Denis Suarez and Carles Planas, who are with Sevilla and Celta Vigo, respectively.
Sacristan was left with young players who thought they had become stars before their time. Sources cite Adama Traore as an example; a striker, they say, with a poor attitude and unjustified arrogance.
It was hard for Sacristan, blooding youngsters into a very competitive league. His successor Jordi Vinyals, an experienced coach from the famed youth system, has the same problem.
Questions have been asked of the level of talent coming through the celebrated Masia. Vinyals would know better than most. He has got the team playing more aggressively against wilier foes, but there are queries on whether that is the Barca way.
A change in the way the club recruits players will have an impact. Barca are already banned from making transfers this year because of their rule-breaking in signing youth players in the past, and players from outside Europe now have to wait until they are 18 to play competitively.
But the Catalans can, and do, recruit the best Spanish youngsters along with Real Madrid.
Barca B may have a new home to look forward to in two years, although whether that will be staging second division football hangs in the balance.
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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
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
Power: 374hp at 5,500-6,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm from 1,900-5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.5L/100km
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Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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The%20specs
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UAE SQUAD
Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabber, Ahmed Raza, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Chirag Suri , Zahoor Khan
Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Fixtures
Wednesday January 8 –Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 – Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 – UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
Ruwais timeline
1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established
1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants
1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed
1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.
1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex
2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea
2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd
2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens
2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies
2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export
2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.
2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery
2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital
2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13
Source: The National
RESULT
Arsenal 0 Chelsea 3
Chelsea: Willian (40'), Batshuayi (42', 49')
Dubai Rugby Sevens, December 5 -7
World Sevens Series Pools
A – Fiji, France, Argentina, Japan
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D – South Africa, England, Spain, Kenya
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Premier League results
Saturday
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Arsenal 1
Bournemouth 0 Manchester City 1
Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Huddersfield Town 0
Burnley 1 Crystal Palace 3
Manchester United 3 Southampton 2
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Cardiff City 0
West Ham United 2 Newcastle United 0
Sunday
Watford 2 Leicester City 1
Fulham 1 Chelsea 2
Everton 0 Liverpool 0
War
Director: Siddharth Anand
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Ashutosh Rana, Vaani Kapoor
Rating: Two out of five stars
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
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
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The specs
Engine: 2.2-litre, turbodiesel
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Power: 160hp
Torque: 385Nm
Price: Dh116,900
On sale: now
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
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Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
MO
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In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
