Jose Mourinho is surrounded by Inter fans before his team's Champions League victory over Barcelona on Wednesday.
Jose Mourinho is surrounded by Inter fans before his team's Champions League victory over Barcelona on Wednesday.

Can Mourinho keep his balance?



MILAN // There were few shades of grey in how the rest of the continent responded to Inter Milan reaching their first European Cup final for 38 years last Wednesday night. In many places, Jose Mourinho walks the critics' red carpet right now, the master strategist who is perceived to have made a brittle club strong, solid, determined and disciplined. In others, he is a ghoul, the tactician whose team's ultra-defensive approach in the second leg of Inter's semi-final against Barcelona might stop folk watching football, even sport, forever if it crushes the instinct for entertainment like that.

In Italy, longer memories and attention to the unfolding drama at the top of Serie A is bound to caution against either extreme. Inter are not always so ugly or so negative at they were in Spain. Nor are they always so super-resistant. Mourinho's team go to Lazio today with the possibility of a treble - Champions League, Coppa Italia and championship - very much on their agenda, while at the same time knowing that not even Mourinho has discovered a failsafe formula that means an adrenalin-charged and energy-sapping epic such as Inter endured at Camp Nou is not easily followed by a limp 90 minutes next time out. Much of the task today is managing fatigue, physical and psychological.

The scudetto, Mourinho will remind his players, is still very much Inter's to lose, since Roma last Sunday lost their advantage at the top and Claudio Ranieri's team's 24-match unbeaten run ended with defeat at home to Sampdoria. With Roma moving back above Inter with a 2-1 victory over Parma last night, twin uncertainties linger around tonight's fixture for the Champions League finalists. One is the ghost of a famous Lazio versus Inter precedent. At the beginning of the last afternoon of the 2001-02 Italian season, the top of the Serie A table read like this: Inter had 69 points, Juventus 68 and Roma 67. It had been a compelling run-in, but the die had apparently been cast. Inter, then coached by the tough Argentine Hector Cuper, had also received a fillip for the final few expeditions of the campaign with the return from injury of Ronaldo, the great Brazilian striker who was in his fourth season there but in and out of the side with a series of fitness problems for the last three of those.

Lazio, it was felt, might be happy to oblige Inter, given that Roma could benefit from a positive Lazio result. Sure enough Inter took the lead. Lazio pulled a goal back, but Inter led again. Then things turned surreal. The final score was a 4-2 victory for Lazio. Juventus became champions, Roma finished runners up, Inter ended up not just traumatised by the loss of their best chance of a league title in 13 years, but with third place, their summer holidays shortened by the need to pre-qualify for the next Champions League.

That day is remembered not just for its drama but because it confirmed the reputation for brittleness under pressure that Inter, through a dozen changes of head coach, had acquired during the first 10 years of Massimo Moratti's presidency. It remains a fact that, thanks to the capitulation at Lazio eight Mays ago, no club in Serie A history has thrown away the Italian title on the final day more often than Inter.

And there have, for all the defiance that characterised Mourinho's squad in Barcelona, been some symptoms of that brittleness in the current Inter's domestic form. They allowed a 14-point advantage over Roma to evaporate before they recovered three of those points last weekend. The unit that "delighted" Marcello Lippi, the Italy head coach, for "their determination and fighting spirit in the pursuit of a single objective" have, safe to report, had some days off from showing that sort of corporate gumption during their league campaign. The atmosphere at the Olimpico will partly be shaped by earlier events. If the results of the clubs below Lazio have hoisted the Rome club closer to safety from relegation, some home fans have warned they will urge their team to go easy on Inter, just to make sure the chances of arch-rivals Roma stealing up to seize the scudetto stay nice and slim. sports@thenational.ae Lazio v Inter, 10.45pm, Aljazeera Sport +1 & +3

Inter Lazio (A) Chievo (H ) Siena (A) Roma Cagliari (H) Chievo (A)

In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

A MINECRAFT MOVIE

Director: Jared Hess

Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa

Rating: 3/5

CHINESE GRAND PRIX STARTING GRID

1st row 
Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

2nd row 
Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes-GP)
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-GP)

3rd row 
Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)
Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull Racing)

4th row 
Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
Sergio Perez (Force India)

5th row 
Carlos Sainz Jr (Renault)
Romain Grosjean (Haas)

6th row 
Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
Esteban Ocon (Force India)

7th row 
Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren)

8th row 
Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso)
Sergey Sirotkin (Williams)

9th row 
Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso)
Lance Stroll (Williams)

10th row 
Charles Leclerc (Sauber)
arcus Ericsson (Sauber)

Skewed figures

In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458. 

How to increase your savings
  • Have a plan for your savings.
  • Decide on your emergency fund target and once that's achieved, assign your savings to another financial goal such as saving for a house or investing for retirement.
  • Decide on a financial goal that is important to you and put your savings to work for you.
  • It's important to have a purpose for your savings as it helps to keep you motivated to continue while also reducing the temptation to spend your savings. 

- Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching

 

 

INFO

Everton 0

Arsenal 0

Man of the Match: Djibril Sidibe (Everton)

Things Heard & Seen

Directed by: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini

Starring: Amanda Seyfried, James Norton

2/5

BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES

SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities

Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails

Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies

Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments

End of free parking

- paid-for parking will be rolled across Abu Dhabi island on August 18

- drivers will have three working weeks leeway before fines are issued

- areas that are currently free to park - around Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Maqta Bridge, Mussaffah Bridge and the Corniche - will now require a ticket

- villa residents will need a permit to park outside their home. One vehicle is Dh800 and a second is Dh1,200. 

- The penalty for failing to pay for a ticket after 10 minutes will be Dh200

- Parking on a patch of sand will incur a fine of Dh300

Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten

Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a  month before Reaching the Last Mile.

Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

 

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.

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)

THE BIO

Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979

Education: UAE University, Al Ain

Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6

Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma

Favourite book: Science and geology

Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC

Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.

The bio

Studied up to grade 12 in Vatanappally, a village in India’s southern Thrissur district

Was a middle distance state athletics champion in school

Enjoys driving to Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah with family

His dream is to continue working as a social worker and help people

Has seven diaries in which he has jotted down notes about his work and money he earned

Keeps the diaries in his car to remember his journey in the Emirates

SPECS

Toyota land Cruiser 2020 5.7L VXR

Engine: 5.7-litre V8

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 362hp

Torque: 530Nm

Price: Dh329,000 (base model 4.0L EXR Dh215,900)

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)

Contracted list

Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Matt Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye.

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