After the mid-to-late-season stutter, Al Hilal seem to have found their footing exactly when needed.
Last week, they defeated Riyadh rivals in the derby, raising their game enough to damage Al Nassr’s Saudi Pro League title challenge despite their own slipping already from view.
In all likelihood, the current Saudi champions, stuck in fourth with only five matches remaining, won’t be holding on to their domestic crown beyond this season.
Yet, on Sunday, Hilal moved to within a match of another local trophy. Pitted against lead leaders Al Ittihad in the semi-final of the King’s Cup, they survived a tense and taught encounter at the hostile King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah to emerge victorious.
The 1-0 triumph in extra-time, secured not by one of their own but an unfortunate touch from Ittihad captain Ahmed Hegazi, kept alive hopes of concluding a crammed campaign with a double.
In the space of six days, Hilal cast behind them the inconsistency in the league, the poor return of five wins from 10 matches, the derby defeat – comprehensive and crushing – to Al Shabab, the home draw to a modest Al Tai and the shock loss to bottom side Al Batin.
Form has been rekindled; fitness, and thus availability, of key players restored. And right on time, too.
It provides a perfect platform for Hilal’s latest shot at yet more continental glory. On Saturday, the Asian Champions League’s most successful club contest the first leg of its 2022 final, hosting Urawa Red Diamonds in Riyadh before the return match in Japan next week.
Irrespective of their domestic league standings, competing in the continent’s marquee club fixture sits snugly in Hilal’s wheelhouse.
The Saudi side embark on their fifth Champions League final in nine years, winning their three most recent. Victory in the last edition, secured via a 2-0 win against South Korea’s Pohang Steelers, lifted Hilal to an unprecedented fourth title.
However, they still go into this year's showpiece – the 2022 edition has stretched across a full 12 months and more – somewhat worse off than in recent iterations.
The reasons for that are easily identifiable: Hilal have endured an arduous 2023, their schedule clogged by a historic run to the Fifa Club World Cup final in Morocco in February.
From there, they jumped straight into the Champions League knockouts in Qatar, the last-16 to semi-finals squeezed into a seven-day period as the competition shifted, finally, from revisions rendered by the pandemic.
The 2022 World Cup has had its impact, also. Hilal, whose players made up almost half the Saudi Arabia squad in Qatar, lost influential players to injury both during and after the tournament: full-back Yasser Al Shahrani, midfield linchpin and captain Salman Al Faraj, electric winger Salem Al Dawsari. Only now, has the trio returned to the line-up.
No doubt, Hilal will be buoyed by not only their players' expertise, but their experience; they will each appear in their fifth Champions League final. Two-time winners Urawa, meanwhile, have only three players in their squad who have competed in one.
Facing their eighth match this month, and unable to augment their side in the winter because of a still-active transfer embargo, Hilal's selection uptick has been welcome indeed.
Under previous conditions, the four-front challenge – Club World Cup, Saudi Pro League, King’s Cup, Champions League – was always going to prove too much. But focus has now narrowed, a third continental title in four years the priority.
Urawa offer familiar opponents – this is the third final between the pair in six years, Urawa winning in 2017, Hilal in 2019 – but they are not quite the same either.
Maciej Skorza, the Polish tactician, was announced as manager in November ahead of the 2023 J-League season and, after a difficult start in which he lost his opening two games in charge, has steadied the ship.
Urawa are unbeaten in 11 matches, even if 13 goals in nine league matches shows more work is required.
Perhaps crucially, Skorza has experience of Saudi football gleaned from the 2012/13 season as Effifaq manager. He will know well what awaits his current team on Saturday at the imposing King Fahd International Stadium. A sell-out 60,000 crowd is expected.
Undeniably, Hilal are more than used to high-stakes stages. Ramon Diaz’s men tend to thrive in the big games, that winners’ mentality cultivated at the region's – and quite conceivably Asia’s – pre-eminent club.
Appearance in the Champions League final is expected, the pressure it brings embraced. Those notable wins against Nassr and Ittihad this past week have lifted the mood, making preparation feel ideal. It suggests Hilal, Champions League supremos, enter Saturday in rude health once more.
Neymar's bio
Total club appearances 411
Total goals scored 241
Appearances for Barca 186
Goals scored for Barca 105
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
SQUADS
UAE
Mohammed Naveed (captain), Mohamed Usman (vice-captain), Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Imran Haider, Tahir Mughal, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed, Fahad Nawaz, Abdul Shakoor, Sultan Ahmed, CP Rizwan
Nepal
Paras Khadka (captain), Gyanendra Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Pradeep Airee, Binod Bhandari, Avinash Bohara, Sundeep Jora, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Rohit Paudel, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi, Basant Regmi, Pawan Sarraf, Bhim Sharki, Aarif Sheikh
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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
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Read more about the coronavirus
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
TEST SQUADS
Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mominul Haque, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mehedi Hasan, Shafiul Islam, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed.
Australia: Steve Smith (captain), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Renshaw, Mitchell Swepson and Jackson Bird.
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
How does ToTok work?
The calling app is available to download on Google Play and Apple App Store
To successfully install ToTok, users are asked to enter their phone number and then create a nickname.
The app then gives users the option add their existing phone contacts, allowing them to immediately contact people also using the application by video or voice call or via message.
Users can also invite other contacts to download ToTok to allow them to make contact through the app.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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
The Details
Article 15
Produced by: Carnival Cinemas, Zee Studios
Directed by: Anubhav Sinha
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Sayani Gupta, Zeeshan Ayyub
Our rating: 4/5
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
T20 World Cup Qualifier
October 18 – November 2
Opening fixtures
Friday, October 18
ICC Academy: 10am, Scotland v Singapore, 2.10pm, Netherlands v Kenya
Zayed Cricket Stadium: 2.10pm, Hong Kong v Ireland, 7.30pm, Oman v UAE
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Rameez Shahzad, Darius D’Silva, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabber, Junaid Siddique, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Waheed Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Zahoor Khan
Players out: Mohammed Naveed, Shaiman Anwar, Qadeer Ahmed
Players in: Junaid Siddique, Darius D’Silva, Waheed Ahmed
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
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