“Maybe the expectations are too great,” suggested the coach of Barcelona after a dispiriting first 90 minutes in what is billed as the grand relaunch of a troubled club.
Xavi had overseen the competitive debuts in Barca colours of Robert Lewandowski, serial Golden Boot, of Franck Kessie, freshly signed from Italian champions AC Milan, and the €60m Raphinha, who 24 hours earlier Xavi had likened to Rivaldo and Neymar.
Over 80,000 came to Camp Nou to see the new faces. They witnessed a 0-0 draw against Rayo Vallecano. “We need to get better and keep believing in the model,” insisted Xavi.
The model that has enabled Barcelona to commit more than €180m to new signings so far in this transfer window is radical. The club came into 2022 weighed down by debts in excess of €1 billion, and restricted by La Liga rules which impose strict limits on the balance of income to outgoings.
To bring in fresh players, Barcelona had to bring in fresh money. They have done so by selling off stakes in future commercial revenue, a large tranche of the €800m they raised in a very short time coming from granting 25 per cent of their broadcast-rights income to a US investment firm for the next quarter-century.
Some of that money bought Lewandowski, Raphinha, and pays Kessie’s salary, and that of re-signed Ousmane Dembele - his previous contract with the Barcelona he joined in 2017 expired at the end of June. The cash injection just about allowed them to be registered with La Liga, though the sums are still tight. Last week, there was still not enough space in the revised club budgets to register another new big-money recruit, defender Jules Kounde.
Barcelona ratings v Rayo Vallecano
Xavi has been assured Kounde will soon be available, perhaps as soon as this weekend’s trip to Real Sociedad, while he learns fast that his job entails monitoring not just fitness issues but looking, hour-by-hour, how the budget is balancing up. He hears awkward conversations among long-serving players who used to be his teammates, like Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, about the pay reductions they have been pressured to take in order that Barca can be so aggressive in spending on new recruits.
In the nine months since Xavi, 42, was invited to leave Al Sadd in Qatar and take over at the club he used to captain, the choices in front of him have transformed. Rewind to Xavi’s first match as coach, a derby against Espanyol in November. Barca finished with a front quartet of Philippe Coutinho, Memphis Depay and the teenagers Ez Abde and Yusuf Demir closing out a 1-0 win.
Coutinho, the costliest signing in Barca history back in 2018, has since been sold, at a massive loss, to Aston Villa. Demir is back in his native Austria. Depay, last season’s top scorer for Barca, and Abde are being touted for sale.
Fast forward to the standout result of Xavi’s short tenure so far, a 4-0 victory over Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in March. It finished with Ferran Torres, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Adama Traore across the three striking positions. The trio had all arrived in the January transfer window, space in the budget for Torres, payment of whose €60m transfer fee from Manchester City had been staggered long into the future, and Aubameyang, who cancelled his existing contract at Arsenal, eked out partly thanks to the loan of Coutinho to Villa. Traore, a graduate of Barcelona’s academy, was on loan from Wolves.
Traore has since returned to England. Aubameyang, who in a half-season matched Depay’s 13 goals in the whole of 2021/22, may soon follow him there, so busy have been the shifts in the hierarchy. Torres, like Aubameyang, sense that Xavi’s preferred front three now is Dembele, Lewandowski and Raphinha.
The high turnover sets particular challenges for Xavi. But no coach of his age or experience would not envy the resources granted to him. The level of spending puts a huge trust in a manager who has been in charge of Barcelona for just 38 games so far.
His triumph last season was to guide the team up from ninth in the table to runners-up - by 13 points - behind Real Madrid. Yet his ratio of wins-to-matches is still shy, at 52 per cent, of the overall records of his three predecessors, Ernesto Valverde, Quique Setien, and Ronald Koeman.
“I accept the pressure,” said Xavi ahead of the tough-looking Real Sociedad fixture. Barca have broken the bank to equip him with a world-class squad. They need him to make the financial gambles pay off.
150 summer transfers - in pictures
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
How to help or find other cats to adopt
Strait of Hormuz
Fujairah is a crucial hub for fuel storage and is just outside the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route linking Middle East oil producers to markets in Asia, Europe, North America and beyond.
The strait is 33 km wide at its narrowest point, but the shipping lane is just three km wide in either direction. Almost a fifth of oil consumed across the world passes through the strait.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait, a move that would risk inviting geopolitical and economic turmoil.
Last month, Iran issued a new warning that it would block the strait, if it was prevented from using the waterway following a US decision to end exemptions from sanctions for major Iranian oil importers.
The%20specs
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2021 World Triathlon Championship Series
May 15: Yokohama, Japan
June 5: Leeds, UK
June 24: Montreal, Canada
July 10: Hamburg, Germany
Aug 17-22: Edmonton, Canada (World Triathlon Championship Final)
Nov 5-6 : Abu Dhabi, UAE
Date TBC: Chengdu, China
Dr Graham's three goals
Short term
Establish logistics and systems needed to globally deploy vaccines
Intermediate term
Build biomedical workforces in low- and middle-income nations
Long term
A prototype pathogen approach for pandemic preparedness
FIXTURES
UAE’s remaining fixtures in World Cup qualification R2
Oct 8: Malaysia (h)
Oct 13: Indonesia (a)
Nov 12: Thailand (h)
Nov 17: Vietnam (h)
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Three ways to boost your credit score
Marwan Lutfi says the core fundamentals that drive better payment behaviour and can improve your credit score are:
1. Make sure you make your payments on time;
2. Limit the number of products you borrow on: the more loans and credit cards you have, the more it will affect your credit score;
3. Don't max out all your debts: how much you maximise those credit facilities will have an impact. If you have five credit cards and utilise 90 per cent of that credit, it will negatively affect your score.
FA Cup semi-finals
Saturday: Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur, 8.15pm (UAE)
Sunday: Chelsea v Southampton, 6pm (UAE)
Matches on Bein Sports
Defined benefit and defined contribution schemes explained
Defined Benefit Plan (DB)
A defined benefit plan is where the benefit is defined by a formula, typically length of service to and salary at date of leaving.
Defined Contribution Plan (DC)
A defined contribution plan is where the benefit depends on the amount of money put into the plan for an employee, and how much investment return is earned on those contributions.
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
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
ACC%20T20%20Women%E2%80%99s%20Championship
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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2018 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Western Sub Regional Qualifier
Event info: The tournament in Kuwait is the first phase of the qualifying process for sides from Asia for the 2020 World T20 in Australia. The UAE must finish within the top three teams out of the six at the competition to advance to the Asia regional finals. Success at regional finals would mean progression to the World T20 Qualifier.
Teams: UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Maldives, Qatar
Friday fixtures: 9.30am (UAE time) - Kuwait v Maldives, Qatar v UAE; 3pm - Saudi Arabia v Bahrain
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Company%20Profile
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The specs: 2019 Mercedes-Benz GLE
Price, base / as tested Dh274,000 (estimate)
Engine 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder
Gearbox Nine-speed automatic
Power 245hp @ 4,200rpm
Torque 500Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.4L / 100km
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Porsche Taycan Turbo specs
Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
Transmission: two-speed
Power: 671hp
Torque: 1050Nm
Range: 450km
Price: Dh601,800
On sale: now
SCORES
Yorkshire Vikings 144-1 in 12.5 overs
(Tom Kohler 72 not out, Harry Broook 42 not out)
bt Hobart Hurricanes 140-7 in 20 overs
(Caleb Jewell 38, Sean Willis 35, Karl Carver 2-29, Josh Shaw 2-39)
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
More from Neighbourhood Watch
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
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)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre turbo 4-cyl
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Power: 190bhp
Torque: 300Nm
Price: Dh169,900
On sale: now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
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
Key fixtures from January 5-7
Watford v Bristol City
Liverpool v Everton
Brighton v Crystal Palace
Bournemouth v AFC Fylde or Wigan
Coventry v Stoke City
Nottingham Forest v Arsenal
Manchester United v Derby
Forest Green or Exeter v West Brom
Tottenham v AFC Wimbledon
Fleetwood or Hereford v Leicester City
Manchester City v Burnley
Shrewsbury v West Ham United
Wolves v Swansea City
Newcastle United v Luton Town
Fulham v Southampton
Norwich City v Chelsea
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
