Naples has been planning its scudetto party as best it can. Historians might point out that the city, impatient these last few days for its raucous celebration, has learnt long and hard how to wait.
It is 33 years since Napoli were last champions of Italy’s Serie A, but so large is the lead they have built up at the top of the table that even by November, the light-blue bunting was being readied for display.
The difficulty for everybody concerned with keeping under control the explosion of joy that will greet the official sealing of the title, is that however hard they try to choreograph the moment, the final step has been devilishly hard to forecast.
Somehow a team defined by their impeccable momentum have found a way to defy the schedulers with all the mazy unpredictability of a Khvicha Kvaratskhelia dribble.
On Tuesday, in anticipation of Napoli – beaten just three times in their 32 league matches so far – collecting the single point they need to confirm the title at Udinese, there were still talks going on between mayors, police chiefs and club presidents about whether to change Thursday's kick-off time.
They decided against. Udine is 850 kilometres north of Naples, but celebrations will still take over its streets if Napoli cross the finishing line there. The party could even start on Wednesday if second-placed Lazio fail to win against Sassuolo, leaving the Rome club too far behind the soaraway table-toppers to catch up in the five fixtures left.
At the weekend, Lazio had obliged Napoli by throwing away a lead at Inter Milan, and losing 3-1. Napoli’s home game against Salernitana, where a win would have sufficed, had been rescheduled at short notice to follow Inter-Lazio, and so set up a fitting climax for the champions-elect in the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.
When Mathias Olivera gave Napoli the lead, flares were ignited, blue smoke billowing from the streets and into the arena. But when Salernitana’s Boulaye Dia equalised, there was pin-drop silence.
It finished 1-1, Napoli had failed to win for the fourth time in five games across competitions. Are they wobbling? “It just means extending the celebrations,” said manager Luciano Spalletti. “I am very happy with the league table.”
He has been happy with it, without quite boasting, or, until now, openly admitting the title is a shoo-in, for many weeks. Napoli are 18 points clear, and even for Spalletti who, across his two spells as manager of Roma, finished second in Serie A four times, the fear of a damaging late collapse is long past: “I am confident we will get the point.”
For Spalletti, who started out in club management 30 seasons ago, the wait for an elite-level league title has been almost as long as for Napoli. With it, he will at last secure a place among the high-class compatriot coaches of his era.
He will achieve what Carlo Ancelotti and Maurizio Sarri, both winners of Italian league and European titles elsewhere, could not quite do as managers of a Napoli squad consolidating their place as contenders but not adding the fairy-tale ending to a fabulous climb. Seventeen years ago, after a plunge that took them close to bankruptcy, they were in Serie C, the third division.
Spalletti deflects the credit for what will be only the club’s third title – and the first from outside the glorious period of the late 1980s and early 90s when Maradona was playing – away from himself and on to the players. The limelight is new to many. Nine months ago, the men whose images are now blended with Maradona’s on murals on the city’s facades were far from household names.
Take the dazzling winger Kvaratskhelia. He was signed last summer from Dinamo Batumi in his native Georgia to scepticism about how he could possibly fill the roles of departed club legends, Lorenzo Insigne and Dries Mertens.
Kim Min-jae, the South Korean central defender hired from Galatasaray, seemed an obscure replacement for the much-loved Kalidou Koulibaly, whose nine years at Napoli ended with his €38 million sale to Chelsea. Back in August, with so many farewells to long-serving players, the club was in a state of upheaval.
It turned out Napoli were not weakened but refreshed. Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen have been a thrillingly potent attacking double-act, Kim a giant in an Italian football culture that reserves special respect for excellent defending.
“The players deserve the attention because I’ve seen their dedication, desire and talent every day in training,” said Spalletti.
And the fans, readying themselves to party, arranging new dates when the party gets postponed?
“The pleasure has only been delayed,” he insists. “We’ll get them there.”
'The worst thing you can eat'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
The Baghdad Clock
Shahad Al Rawi, Oneworld
8 traditional Jamaican dishes to try at Kingston 21
- Trench Town Rock: Jamaican-style curry goat served in a pastry basket with a carrot and potato garnish
- Rock Steady Jerk Chicken: chicken marinated for 24 hours and slow-cooked on the grill
- Mento Oxtail: flavoured oxtail stewed for five hours with herbs
- Ackee and salt fish: the national dish of Jamaica makes for a hearty breakfast
- Jamaican porridge: another breakfast favourite, can be made with peanut, cornmeal, banana and plantain
- Jamaican beef patty: a pastry with ground beef filling
- Hellshire Pon di Beach: Fresh fish with pickles
- Out of Many: traditional sweet potato pudding
Skoda Superb Specs
Engine: 2-litre TSI petrol
Power: 190hp
Torque: 320Nm
Price: From Dh147,000
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Four motivational quotes from Alicia's Dubai talk
“The only thing we need is to know that we have faith. Faith and hope in our own dreams. The belief that, when we keep going we’re going to find our way. That’s all we got.”
“Sometimes we try so hard to keep things inside. We try so hard to pretend it’s not really bothering us. In some ways, that hurts us more. You don’t realise how dishonest you are with yourself sometimes, but I realised that if I spoke it, I could let it go.”
“One good thing is to know you’re not the only one going through it. You’re not the only one trying to find your way, trying to find yourself, trying to find amazing energy, trying to find a light. Show all of yourself. Show every nuance. All of your magic. All of your colours. Be true to that. You can be unafraid.”
“It’s time to stop holding back. It’s time to do it on your terms. It’s time to shine in the most unbelievable way. It’s time to let go of negativity and find your tribe, find those people that lift you up, because everybody else is just in your way.”
'Skin'
Dir: Guy Nattiv
Starring: Jamie Bell, Danielle McDonald, Bill Camp, Vera Farmiga
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
RESULTS
6.30pm: Handicap (TB) $68,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
Winner: Hypothetical, Mickael Barzalona (jockey), Salem bin Ghadayer (trainer)
7.05pm: Meydan Sprint – Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (Turf) 1,000m
Winner: Equilateral, Andrea Atzeni, Charles Hills
7.40pm: Curlin Stakes – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (D) 2,200m
Winner: New Trails, Fernando Jara, Ahmad bin Harmash
8.15pm: UAE Oaks – Group 3 (TB) $125,000 (D) 1,900m
Winner: Mnasek, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
8.50pm: Zabeel Mile – Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner: D’bai, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
9.25pm: Balanchine – Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,800m
Winner: Summer Romance, James Doyle, Charlie Appleby
10pm: Al Shindagha Sprint – Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Al Tariq, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
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
Japan 30-10 Russia
Tries: Matsushima (3), Labuschange | Golosnitsky
Conversions: Tamura, Matsuda | Kushnarev
Penalties: Tamura (2) | Kushnarev
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
A Dog's Journey
Directed by: Gail Mancuso
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Josh Gad, Marg Helgenberger, Betty Gilpin, Kathryn Prescott
3 out of 5 stars
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
