A subtle feint, back to goal, and Wilfried Zaha had his marker where he wanted him, too tight, too committed. Once he had spun elegantly away from the unfortunate Atakan Cankaya, of Ankaragucu, Zaha was in one of his favourite places, just inside the opposition penalty area, ball teed up for his right foot, angles favourable.
He rifled in his shot, a strike seen many times before from Zaha in a Crystal Palace jersey, a goal whipped across the goalkeeper, left to right. Zaha celebrated with a mighty leap and a clenched fist. His new club, Galatasaray, had been trailing 1-0. Zaha changed the script, kick-starting Saturday’s comeback to 2-1 up and maintaining the Turkish champions’ unbeaten start to the season.
It was Zaha’s first goal for Galatasaray, who he joined from Palace in the summer with the express wish of playing in the Uefa Champions League, a platform outside the reach of Palace, where Zaha had become an enduring, adored icon: over 450 senior games, 90 goals. On Tuesday, a few weeks before turning 31, Zaha can finally anticipate a long-awaited first start in club football’s most prestigious competition. The setting makes it especially poignant.
A decade ago, at Old Trafford where Galatasaray meet a troubled Manchester United, Zaha was watching Champions League matches from the grandstands, a United employee but one excluded from their European squad. That absence rankled with the winger, who had been signed that year, 2013. With his dazzling footwork and his turn of speed, he was heralded as an exciting addition to a United squad in momentous transition.
A new manager, David Moyes, had assumed the reins held for 27 years by Alex Ferguson. There was hype around Zaha, a natural fit, it was suggested, in the great line of United wingers that runs through George Best and a young Cristiano Ronaldo. Ten years ago, Zaha was being feted as the latest ‘New Ryan Giggs’ in the Daily Telegraph.
By the end of his first season at United, Giggs, then 40, had become United’s emergency player-manager. Moyes had been sacked, having picked Zaha in his starting XI just twice, before exiling Zaha in the January to a loan at Cardiff City. He would return to Palace after just 12 months away, there to establish himself as the heartbeat of the south London club.
Over his Palace odyssey, the match-winning displays, season after season, confronted United again and again with the idea they had wasted an opportunity by marginalising Zaha. The player also faced an ongoing dilemma: to stick with Palace, raising a middleweight club’s standards steadily, or to move somewhere with greater potential to win trophies and compete in Europe?
Zaha faced a similar quandary as an international footballer. He was selected for two friendlies for England before he turned 21, but none after he had left United. He switched his international allegiance to Ivory Coast, where he was born, six years ago. If he goes to January’s Africa Cup of Nations finals, hosted in his native country, it will be his fourth Afcon.
In June, Galatasaray offered him both elite Uefa football and a squad full of European knowhow. Injury restricted his first two months of action, but the promising, goalscoring first Galatasaray start at the weekend has been noted by United.
Erik ten Hag, the United manager, namechecked Zaha ahead of the Group A meeting, listing Galatasaray’s attacking threats. “We know their quality,” he said. “It’s not only Zaha and Mauro Icardi, but there’s Dries Mertens and Hakim Ziyech. We have to defend that and be at our best to get the right result.”
Mertens, owner of over 100 caps for Belgium, and Icardi, a Champions League finalist with Paris Saint-Germain, helped steer Gala to last season’s Turkish title. Zaha and Ziyech – a Champions League winner while with Chelsea – are fresh arrivals brought in to add width.
Ziyech is a doubt, the Moroccan having missed the win against Ankaragucu to continue his recuperation from a muscle problem, leaving Zaha to take command of creative duties at the weekend and to arrive at Old Trafford on a high.
He has watched highlights of his beloved Palace beating United on Saturday; he is mindful, as a winger, that United are short of fit full-backs. He is entitled to see them as vulnerable – and eerily like they were 10 years ago, when Zaha was a bewildered, frustrated, underused new addition to the squad.
Back then, Moyes’ United went into October having lost three times already in the Premier League; Ten Hag has overseen defeats in four of seven league games. Lose on Tuesday and United would be bottom of Group A while Galatasaray proudly occupy one of the pole qualifying positions.
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.
Players Selected for La Liga Trials
U18 Age Group
Name: Ahmed Salam (Malaga)
Position: Right Wing
Nationality: Jordanian
Name: Yahia Iraqi (Malaga)
Position: Left Wing
Nationality: Morocco
Name: Mohammed Bouherrafa (Almeria)
Position: Centre-Midfield
Nationality: French
Name: Mohammed Rajeh (Cadiz)
Position: Striker
Nationality: Jordanian
U16 Age Group
Name: Mehdi Elkhamlichi (Malaga)
Position: Lead Striker
Nationality: Morocco
THE SPECS
2020 Toyota Corolla Hybrid LE
Engine: 1.8 litre combined with 16-volt electric motors
Transmission: Automatic with manual shifting mode
Power: 121hp
Torque: 142Nm
Price: Dh95,900
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (c), Chamani Senevirathne (vc), Subha Srinivasan, NIsha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Esha Oza, Ishani Senevirathne, Heena Hotchandani, Keveesha Kumari, Judith Cleetus, Chavi Bhatt, Namita D’Souza.
AUSTRALIA SQUAD v SOUTH AFRICA
Aaron Finch (capt), Shaun Marsh, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Adam Zampa
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
What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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
