The hottest ticket in town took a while to get warm, but Cristiano Ronaldo eventually gave the masses what they wanted as he helped Al Nassr to victory in Dubai.
In the 82nd minute of Tuesday night's AFC Champions League Elite game against Esteghlal at the home ground of Shabab Al Ahli, near Dubai International Airport, Ronaldo rose to meet a corner.
The Portuguese great turns 40 before the season is out, but many of the old trademark gifts still remain. His aerial ability and eye for goal are clearly intact.
His angled header towards the top corner was met by a fine save by Hossein Hosseini, the Iranian side’s captain-goalkeeper. As Ronaldo wheeled away in frustration at the fact he had been thwarted again by a stubborn Esteghlal side, Aymeric Laporte nipped in at the back post to head in.
The goal by the Spanish former Manchester City defender was all the Saudi Pro League giants needed to take all three points home with them courtesy of a 1-0 win.
It was a seventh match in a row Nassr have won since Stefano Pioli was appointed as their manager after a draw in the Champions League cost his predecessor, Luis Castro, his job.
The all-star side from Riyadh were deserving victors, too, even if they laboured to it. The biggest star of the lot played the full 90 minutes, and did his best to entertain those who had turned out to see him – most of whom had paid a pretty price for the privilege.
Even the very cheapest tickets, which were snapped up in double-quick time, were Dh90. That was three times the price of the standard rate of admission for the Champions League game in Al Ain 24 hours earlier.
That game, between Asian champions Al Ain and Saudi champs Al Hilal, had a fair sprinkling of stardust, too, with the likes of Neymar, Joao Cancelo and Soufiane Rahimi all involved. With tickets so fairly priced, the majority at Dh30, it sold to its 24,000 capacity well in advance of matchday.
Despite the fact Rashid Stadium only holds 12,000, there were still tickets for sale online on the day, albeit for Dh5,000. The official attendance figure was announced near the end of the game as a neatly rounded 8,000.
With Esteghlal having had to give up hosting rights because of security concerns over the conflict involving Israel, it was essentially a neutral fixture. As a result, there was no obvious partisan home backing, and the atmosphere had the feel of a testimonial fixture.
The side from Tehran did have some home comforts, of sorts. Dubai and Sharjah have staged a number of games involving Iranian teams in the past, so they know this neck of the woods, and they do have locally based supporters.
On the corner of the ground nearest the metro station, an entrepreneur was peddling Iran flags ahead of kick off, perhaps left over from when Team Melli played at this venue against Qatar last week.
That said, it was clear who the majority were here to see. The most popular shirt on show was the vivid yellow of Al Nassr, the majority with a No 7 and “Ronaldo” printed on the back.
And to say the majority were here to see the Portuguese superstar does not necessarily equate to supporting him. When the teams were lining up before kick off, there were chants of “Messi, Messi,” emanating from the stands, a theme that recurred whenever Ronaldo misplaced a pass, or fired a shot wide, or squabbled with teammates.
It grew legs. In the second half, when Ronaldo showed his frustrations at the referee with some pantomime gesticulations, the name of his Argentine nemesis peeled around the stands more loudly than at any other point.
Clearly, there was a large portion of fans wanting to pump Ronaldo up, too. They responded to the Messi chants by singing Ronaldo’s name, and bowing to him. For the most part, though, it was fairly quiet.
The eerie atmosphere was exacerbated when Mehrdad Mohammedi suffered serious injury early on. The Esteghlal winger went in full-blooded for a 50-50 with Laporte, and both reeled away in pain.
While Nassr’s Spanish defender recovered after treatment, Mohammedi was not so lucky. He was stretchered off in some distress before being transferred to an ambulance.
As he was being loaded into the golf buggy by the paramedics, Ronaldo grabbed Mohammedi’s hand and wished him well.
The tone was muted for much of the game thereafter, but at least Ronaldo gave the majority something to cheer in the end.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
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WHEN TO GO:
September to November or March to May; this is when visitors are most likely to see what they’ve come for.
WHERE TO STAY:
Meghauli Serai, A Taj Safari - Chitwan National Park resort (tajhotels.com) is a one-hour drive from Bharatpur Airport with stays costing from Dh1,396 per night, including taxes and breakfast. Return airport transfers cost from Dh661.
HOW TO GET THERE:
Etihad Airways regularly flies from Abu Dhabi to Kathmandu from around Dh1,500 per person return, including taxes. Buddha Air (buddhaair.com) and Yeti Airlines (yetiairlines.com) fly from Kathmandu to Bharatpur several times a day from about Dh660 return and the flight takes just 20 minutes. Driving is possible but the roads are hilly which means it will take you five or six hours to travel 148 kilometres.
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
How to tell if your child is being bullied at school
Sudden change in behaviour or displays higher levels of stress or anxiety
Shows signs of depression or isolation
Ability to sleep well diminishes
Academic performance begins to deteriorate
Changes in eating habits
Struggles to concentrate
Refuses to go to school
Behaviour changes and is aggressive towards siblings
Begins to use language they do not normally use
$1,000 award for 1,000 days on madrasa portal
Daily cash awards of $1,000 dollars will sweeten the Madrasa e-learning project by tempting more pupils to an education portal to deepen their understanding of math and sciences.
School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.
“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.
“The objective of the Madrasa is to become the number one reference for all Arab students in the world. The 5,000 videos we have online is just the beginning, we have big ambitions. Today in the Arab world there are 50 million students. We want to reach everyone who is willing to learn.”
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Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
SPECS
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Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
