“When Kylian wants to play, there’s not a lot you can say,” shrugged Luis Enrique, manager of Paris Saint-Germain, handing over a little of the authority of his position to his sometimes domineering superstar.
There had been a logic in resting Mbappe for the in the Coupe de France trip on Sunday night to Revel, of the regionalised sixth tier of French football, as the Ligue 1 champions would have won comfortably without their talisman striker.
He could have been asked to keep himself fresh for the much bigger challenges that spread ahead of him and his club in the first half of 2024. But he wanted to play and so the coach agreed.
Mbappe’s hat-trick was the difference between winning 6-0 and the eventual 9-0 rout. So comfortable was the outcome that Mbappe invited his junior colleague Gonzalo Ramos to take – and score – a penalty, a duty normally reserved for King Kylian.
So it was that the coach let the player’s desire shape team selection, and by the end of an evening in which a 10,000 crowd had a privileged sight of Mbappe in full flow, they had saw a bonus Mbappe on the pitch, too – Kylian’s younger brother, Ethan.
With an hour on the clock, he came off the bench. The 17-year-old had played a single minute, last month, for PSG’s first team up until then, but the promotion is part of a steady trajectory. “I’ve liked the way he trains,” said Luis Enrique of the midfielder, who picked Ethan to go on the club’s pre-season tour of Asia.
There he was without fraternal company. At that stage in the tumultuous relationship between Mbappe senior and PSG, employer and best-paid employee were at odds, the striker banished from summer training after he turned down a one-year contract extension.
A solution was eventually found but it remains temporary. Kylian Mbappe’s deal with PSG expires in June, and if he does not renew he is free to leave then without a transfer fee. Mbappe has been in this scenario before.
Two seasons ago, he looked set to join Real Madrid when his previous contract in Paris was soon to run out. He instead signed a new deal, for two years with that optional third season, that made him the world’s best-paid footballer.
Madrid, who have pursued Mbappe since his teens, and for whom Mbappe has often said he would like to play one day, remain the likeliest destination should he depart PSG this summer.
If he does, the French club will present the departure as a setback but not a major economic blow, given that Mbappe, by not triggering a year’s extension last summer, effectively gave up over €80 million in bonus payments from the club.
“Whatever I decide, the agreements we reached have successfully protected all parties and ensure the club can prepare calmly for next season,” Mbappe said last week.
Viewed from the seat of Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the PSG president, the set-up looks as if it has been calmly and meticulously set up to make Mbappe happier in Paris than ever.
Since the last time the prospect of move tantalised Madrid, tempted the player and obliged Al-Khelaifi to commit a huge tranche of PSG’s budget to keeping Mbappe, the working environment has altered, and although the bond between star and president reached a point of high tension last July, executive decisions have been taken that are designed to make the player more at ease.
His number one place in the dressing-room hierarchy is now undisputed. Lionel Messi has moved on. So has Neymar, with whom Mbappe had a prickly relationship. Among those brought in were Ousmane Dembele and Randal Kolo Muani, forwards who are colleagues in the France national team.
Luis Enrique, the fifth different manager PSG have taken on in the six years since Mbappe joined as a teenager from Monaco, is the only one of them to have arrived there with a Champions League winners’ medal on his resume. That’s the competition Mbappe, a world champion with France in 2018, and Al-Khelaifi long to win most.
So far Luis Enrique, who guided Barcelona to a European Cup triumph in 2015, is maximising Mbappe’s talents in a system based on fluid movement in attack. The hat-trick at Revel’s borrowed rugby stadium took his club goals for the season to 25, in 24 outings. Mbappe has been Ligue 1’s leading scorer five times. At this rate he’s on track to repeat the feat with a best-ever tally.
He’s only 25, young enough to remember, for Ethan’s benefit, how it feels to be on the cusp of a senior career at just 17, but mature and forthright enough to know he is at a unique position to master his own destiny. Madrid still want him and he has peaks still to climb.
In five months’ time, Mbappe will captain France, the favourites, at the European championship. He then wants to play at the Olympic Games in Paris, where he grew up, and has made that known to France’s Olympic coach, Thierry Henry.
And as Luis Enrique put it: “When Kylian wants to play, what can you say?” As the PSG coach also said: “He’s got a lot of character.” But in that case, he was talking about the other Mbappe, the rising prospect that is Ethan.
More on Quran memorisation:
Results
Stage three:
1. Stefan Bissegger (SUI) EF Education-EasyPost, in 9-43
2. Filippo Ganna (ITA) Ineos Grenadiers, at 7s
3. Tom Dumoulin (NED) Jumbo-Visma, at 14s
4. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE-Team Emirates, at 18s
5. Joao Almeida (POR) UAE-Team Emirates, at 22s
6. Mikkel Bjerg (DEN) UAE-Team Emirates, at 24s
General Classification:
1. Stefan Bissegger (SUI) EF Education-EasyPost, in 9-13-02
2. Filippo Ganna (ITA) Ineos Grenadiers, at 7s
3. Jasper Philipsen (BEL) Alpecin Fenix, at 12s
4. Tom Dumoulin (NED) Jumbo-Visma, at 14s
5. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE-Team Emirates, at 18s
6. Joao Almeida (POR) UAE-Team Emirates, at 22s
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
Oppenheimer
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What are the main cyber security threats?
Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
Results
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m; Winner: Rawat Al Reef, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Abdallah Al Hammadi (trainer)
5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Noof KB, Richard Mullen, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: AF Seven Skies, Bernardo Pinheiro, Qaiss Aboud
6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Jabalini, Szczepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7pm: UAE Arabian Derby – Prestige (PA) Dh150,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Dergham Athbah, Richard Mullen, Mohamed Daggash
7.30pm: Emirates Championship – Group 1 (PA) Dh1,000,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Somoud, Richard Mullen, Jean de Roualle
8pm: Abu Dhabi Championship – Group 3 (TB) Dh380,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Irish Freedom, Antonio Fresu, Satish Seemar
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Teachers' pay - what you need to know
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
Nancy 9 (Hassa Beek)
Nancy Ajram
(In2Musica)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The years Ramadan fell in May
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
