The joy and the pain came together for Luis Diaz. Bruised but brilliant, he ensured Brighton were beaten. For Liverpool, it was comfortable progress. An eighth straight win halved their deficit to Manchester City to three points. The title race remains very much on.
A January signing has given Jurgen Klopp’s side added impetus and even on the day when Mohamed Salah reached 20 goals in a Premier League season for a fourth time, in turn taking Liverpool to 2,000 in the competition, the Colombian was their courageous catalyst.
Robert Sanchez smashed into Diaz as he scored his second Liverpool goal. Once he had picked himself off the turf, he resumed his work of tormenting Brighton. His combination of pace, directness and ferocious work ethic underlined the sense he is a natural fit for Klopp’s brand of football. “He was unplayable at times,” said Andy Robertson.
Diaz’s goal combined the admirable with the reprehensible. Fresh from winning the Premier League’s player-of-the-month award for February, Joel Matip staked an early case to retain the award. He curled a pass over the Brighton defence in the manner of Trent Alexander-Arnold. Diaz timed his run perfectly and displayed the bravery to head the ball in as he was clattered. “It is what a striker has to do and he did really well,” Klopp said. “He is the only person who knows exactly how quick he is. To get in there with the head is brave.”
But it was reckless, dangerous and hideous from Sanchez, amounting to an unwanted impression of Toni Schumacher’s infamous challenge in the 1982 World Cup; somehow the officials did not deem it a red card. His manager provided the case for the defence. “I think it was an accidental one; the quality of the pass and the run has been too much for him,” Graham Potter said. Sanchez made a more legitimate intervention to save Diaz’s 90th-minute shot and deny him a second.
An early red card might have led to a rout. Against 11 men, Klopp noted: “We had our chances.” Salah ended what was a drought, at least by his standards, rifling a spot kick into the roof of the net after Yves Bissouma handled Naby Keita’s shot.
Before his first goal in four games, Salah had been relentless, if also a little selfish. After hitting both posts against Inter Milan, he struck the bar with a shot that looped up off Lewis Dunk. He had dragged a shot wide while he was denied by Sanchez when he sprang a counter-attack and surged past Bissouma. He was the supplier when Sanchez tipped Sadio Mane’s close-range shot past the post. Salah departed early, potentially hurt.
“Something is not 100 per cent right,” said Klopp. “The foot got slightly overstretched but he thinks it is not serious.” There might be an unfortunate irony for Liverpool if, after the assault on Diaz, Salah was the scorer who gets sidelined.
But the team rolled on. “Consistency is the most difficult thing in football but the most exhausting as well,” Klopp reflected. Brighton have the wrong sort: after only losing four of their first 24 league matches, they have five straight defeats, their worst run in the division. Their day was summed up when Adam Lallana came on and limped off a few minutes later.
They are the joint lowest scorers at home this season and profligacy is a familiar problem. The recalled Neal Maupay fizzed an early shot wide. When he picked out Leandro Trossard at the start of the second half, the Belgian blazed wastefully over. Alisson made a brilliant late save from Danny Welbeck. “Ali deserved his clean sheet,” Klopp concluded.
WITHIN%20SAND
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The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Destroyer
Director: Karyn Kusama
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Sebastian Stan
Rating: 3/5
UAE release: January 31
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
SPECS
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Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
%3Cp%3EHigh%20fever%20(40%C2%B0C%2F104%C2%B0F)%3Cbr%3ESevere%20headache%3Cbr%3EPain%20behind%20the%20eyes%3Cbr%3EMuscle%20and%20joint%20pains%3Cbr%3ENausea%3Cbr%3EVomiting%3Cbr%3ESwollen%20glands%3Cbr%3ERash%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 247hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm from 1,500-3,500rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 7.8L/100km
Price: from Dh94,900
On sale: now
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Brief scoreline:
Al Wahda 2
Al Menhali 27', Tagliabue 79'
Al Nassr 3
Hamdallah 41', Giuliano 45 1', 62'
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
