As the team bus of Bayern Munich, a club on course for their 10th successive Bundesliga title, exited Spain’s Mediterranean highway towards the small town where they will contest a place in the Champions League semi-final on Wednesday, nobody was being coy about status. “We are the favourites,” acknowledged Julian Nagelsmann, Bayern’s head coach about the meeting with underdogs Villarreal.
He could hardly say otherwise and keep a straight face. The last outing of the Bayern juggernaut in this competition was the 7-1 victory, in Munich, over RB Salzburg; the last time Nagelsmann brought his team to Spain, they beat Barcelona 3-0, in the group phase.
Villarreal may be one of the more potent attacking sides in La Liga, but they are only seventh in the table. Besides, their 48 goals from 30 matches so far this season are not so different than the 45 Robert Lewandowski has scored all on his own in 38 club matches for Bayern since August.
At the same time, Nagelsmann knows that within the 23,000 Estadio de Ceramica lurks a seasoned giant-killer. Villarreal made it into the last eight of club football’s principal competition having made as good use as any club ever has of the entry-route that allows the Europa League holders into the Champions League when that club have not finished in the domestic league positions that normally grant access.
In this campaign, they have survived the impact of Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored in both Manchester United’s victories over Villarreal in the group stage, and of the most expensive signing of 2022 so far.
Dusan Vlahovic scored within seconds of the first leg of their last-16 tie against Juventus. Villarreal still ended up inflicting a headline-making scoreline on Juve - 3-0 in the second leg, in Turin; 4-1 on aggregate - to earn their date with Lewandowski and company.
The bad news for Unai Emery’s upstarts came from Nagelsmann’s announcement that Bayern’s impressive range of suppliers of bespoke passes to Lewandowski might look even stronger than anticipated. The whippet-fast left-back Alphonso Davies is ready to return after almost four months recovering from, first, Covid and then the heart muscle issues that followed his coronavirus infection.
Davies - whose recuperation period meant he missed out on last month’s celebrations of his country, Canada’s first qualification for a World Cup since the 1980s - has travelled with the Bayern squad to Spain. Nagelsmann said: “I have in my mind that he could start the game. All the tests are positive, but I will consult with the staff on the morning of the match.”
Nagelsmann is also hopeful Leon Goretzka, the central midfielder, will be fit. His only confirmed absentees are the injured Corentin Tolisso, understudy to Goretzka, and Eric Choupo-Moting, who has had Covid but whose opportunities generally come from the bench or when Lewandowski is unavailable.
In short, Bayern intend to show small-town Villarreal almost the full breadth of their envied strength-in-depth. The accusation that the serial German champions have accumulated too much talent for the competitive health of their own league has been levelled against them frequently. At the weekend, it became the source of light-hearted mocking because of an incident during the 4-1 Bundesliga victory over Freiburg.
Late in the match, Bayern had 12 players - all international stars, naturally - on the pitch because of a misunderstanding around a double substitution made by Nagelsmann. The error arose partly because one of the substituted players, winger Kingsley Coman, had not seen his number on the fourth official’s board.
The contest between 12 and 11 lasted only a few seconds of active play, before Coman left the pitch. But Freiburg have lodged a complaint with the German Football Association, the DFB. They could be awarded a 2-0 win and the 4-1 result erased.
Bayern already lead second-placed Borussia Dortmund by nine points with six fixtures to play, but the issue was still a distraction for Nagelsmann as he looked ahead to the first leg of the European quarter-final.
“I am disappointed and surprised,” he said of Freiburg’s lodging a complaint. “It’s not as if they could have done anything in those few seconds.”
Nagelsmann’s immediate concern is how to whittle down 14 into 11 against a “solid and competitive” Villarreal. “I’ve just drawn up my possible team with a ruler and pen,” he told reporters, “and there are still three or four positions undecided.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Results
6.30pm: The Madjani Stakes (PA) Group 3 Dh175,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner: Aatebat Al Khalediah, Fernando Jara (jockey), Ali Rashid Al Raihe (trainer).
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Down On Da Bayou, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
7.40pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Dubai Avenue, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: My Catch, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: Dubai Creek Mile (TB) Listed Dh265,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Secret Ambition, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Golden Goal, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
How the UAE gratuity payment is calculated now
Employees leaving an organisation are entitled to an end-of-service gratuity after completing at least one year of service.
The tenure is calculated on the number of days worked and does not include lengthy leave periods, such as a sabbatical. If you have worked for a company between one and five years, you are paid 21 days of pay based on your final basic salary. After five years, however, you are entitled to 30 days of pay. The total lump sum you receive is based on the duration of your employment.
1. For those who have worked between one and five years, on a basic salary of Dh10,000 (calculation based on 30 days):
a. Dh10,000 ÷ 30 = Dh333.33. Your daily wage is Dh333.33
b. Dh333.33 x 21 = Dh7,000. So 21 days salary equates to Dh7,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service. Multiply this figure for every year of service up to five years.
2. For those who have worked more than five years
c. 333.33 x 30 = Dh10,000. So 30 days’ salary is Dh10,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service.
Note: The maximum figure cannot exceed two years total salary figure.
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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
Stormy seas
Weather warnings show that Storm Eunice is soon to make landfall. The videographer and I are scrambling to return to the other side of the Channel before it does. As we race to the port of Calais, I see miles of wire fencing topped with barbed wire all around it, a silent ‘Keep Out’ sign for those who, unlike us, aren’t lucky enough to have the right to move freely and safely across borders.
We set sail on a giant ferry whose length dwarfs the dinghies migrants use by nearly a 100 times. Despite the windy rain lashing at the portholes, we arrive safely in Dover; grateful but acutely aware of the miserable conditions the people we’ve left behind are in and of the privilege of choice.
Fitness problems in men's tennis
Andy Murray - hip
Novak Djokovic - elbow
Roger Federer - back
Stan Wawrinka - knee
Kei Nishikori - wrist
Marin Cilic - adductor
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
