“It’s good to be back at it,” was the verdict of new Besiktas boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on the morning of his first match in his new job. It’s over three years since he left Manchester United and having turned down multiple offers since, he decided to accept the position to coach the Turkish side last week.
Several approaches have come from Turkey in recent years and Solskjaer loved the idea of living in Europe’s biggest city, Istanbul, and working in a league with some of the most passionate fans in world football. That passion can boil over and turbulence is the norm in Turkish football – Besiktas have had 30 coaches this century – but the Norwegian got off to the best possible start in his first game, a thumping 4-1 win against Europa League group leaders Athletic Club.
The Basques had won five and drawn one of their six games, conceding only twice before they travelled to the banks of the Bosporus where Besiktas play. Their hosts had won only two from six and sit sixth in the Turkish Super Lig. That’s why few were expecting a Besiktas win, let alone such an emphatic one against Ernesto Valverde’s side. Kosovan winger Milot Rashica bagged two as the Turkish side scored three times in the final 30 minutes, playing hugely entertaining attacking football. They face Twente in the final group game next week and are well-positioned to reach the play-off round of the competition.
Solskjaer has brought in coaches and will appoint more staff to work with his team as they seek to improve fortunes, but the glow of a first win could quickly fade; it’s a difficult job he’s taken on.
Besiktas’ problems lie in their home city where they have to play third fiddle too often for their fans liking. Galatasaray are serial champions and remain just that. Fenerbahce, now coached by Jose Mourinho, the man Solskjaer replaced at Manchester United, finished second despite earning 99 points in the league last season. Both are far better resourced than the big-spending Besiktas, who have won 16 titles, including five so far this century, the last in 2021. They won the Turkish Cup in 2024, but a disappointing sixth-place finish last term saw another change of coach. Giovanni van Bronckhorst lasted only 20 games before his November dismissal with the team sitting fourth. They have continued to regress.
Political instability at the club in recent years has not helped. The previous club president departed a year ago, replaced by Serdal Adali after a snap election in December 2023. There will be a further election in June, with Adali likely the only candidate.
Fans have been frustrated that the overspending has resulted in underwhelming performances, by the lack of home-grown talents, but Solskjaer’s appointment has been greeted with enthusiasm in Turkey.
He inherits a squad whose best two players are Portuguese: playmaker Rafa Silva and his compatriot Gedson Fernandes. Italian striker Ciro Immobile arrived at the start of the season after eight years at Lazio and is the 14-goal top scorer. Englishman Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, 31, has featured less since being frozen out by Van Bronkhorst, while Libyan midfielder Al-Musrati ensures Mena representation.
Besiktas are well supported and average 30,000 for home league games this season in their 42,000-capacity Besiktas Stadium which was developed in 2016. Few stadiums enjoy such a privileged position, standing in Europe and overlooking Asia. Galatasaray averages 43,000 at home, Fenerbahce 35,000 in a league where the average crowd is just 12,500.
It’s not all about numbers, though. There are former Manchester United colleagues of Solskjaer who maintain that the atmosphere for their game at Besiktas in 2010 was the best they ever experienced in their career.
There’s a lot of good will towards Solskjaer and interest in his appointment is high, but he knows he needs to strengthen his squad, steady their league position and ideally improve on it so that Besiktas play European football next season. They had one of their great European nights in his first game this season.
“I see a team full of quality players that have been going through a difficult period,” Solskjaer told Dijital after the game. “My job in these two or three days was to hold my hand around them, make them feel confident because football is the best thing. It should be fun. It should be about going out, working hard and celebrating with the fans after. I said that we should stay together as a team, fight for your team, fight for your shirt, fight for your supporters, fight for your family.”
It's great to see Solskjaer enjoying being back but he has some hard work ahead.
The five pillars of Islam
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Etihad (etihad.com) flies from Abu Dhabi to Mykonos, with a flight change to its partner airline Olympic Air in Athens. Return flights cost from Dh4,105 per person, including taxes.
Where to stay
The modern-art-filled Ambassador hotel (myconianambassador.gr) is 15 minutes outside Mykonos Town on a hillside 500 metres from the Platis Gialos Beach, with a bus into town every 30 minutes (a taxi costs €15 [Dh66]). The Nammos and Scorpios beach clubs are a 10- to 20-minute walk (or water-taxi ride) away. All 70 rooms have a large balcony, many with a Jacuzzi, and of the 15 suites, five have a plunge pool. There’s also a private eight-bedroom villa. Double rooms cost from €240 (Dh1,063) including breakfast, out of season, and from €595 (Dh2,636) in July/August.
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The five pillars of Islam
Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
SPEC%20SHEET
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
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Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
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The years Ramadan fell in May
Analysis
Maros Sefcovic is juggling multiple international trade agreement files, but his message was clear when he spoke to The National on Wednesday.
The EU-UAE bilateral trade deal will be finalised soon, he said. It is in everyone’s interests to do so. Both sides want to move quickly and are in alignment. He said the UAE is a very important partner for the EU. It’s full speed ahead - and with some lofty ambitions - on the road to a free trade agreement.
We also talked about US-EU tariffs. He answered that both sides need to talk more and more often, but he is prepared to defend Europe's position and said diplomacy should be a guiding principle through the current moment.
Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer
Christopher Celenza,
Reaktion Books
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
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
More on Quran memorisation:
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Naga
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The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
How it works
1) The liquid nanoclay is a mixture of water and clay that aims to convert desert land to fertile ground
2) Instead of water draining straight through the sand, it apparently helps the soil retain water
3) One application is said to last five years
4) The cost of treatment per hectare (2.4 acres) of desert varies from $7,000 to $10,000 per hectare
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
The five pillars of Islam
Coming soon
Torno Subito by Massimo Bottura
When the W Dubai – The Palm hotel opens at the end of this year, one of the highlights will be Massimo Bottura’s new restaurant, Torno Subito, which promises “to take guests on a journey back to 1960s Italy”. It is the three Michelinstarred chef’s first venture in Dubai and should be every bit as ambitious as you would expect from the man whose restaurant in Italy, Osteria Francescana, was crowned number one in this year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Akira Back Dubai
Another exciting opening at the W Dubai – The Palm hotel is South Korean chef Akira Back’s new restaurant, which will continue to showcase some of the finest Asian food in the world. Back, whose Seoul restaurant, Dosa, won a Michelin star last year, describes his menu as, “an innovative Japanese cuisine prepared with a Korean accent”.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
The highly experimental chef, whose dishes are as much about spectacle as taste, opens his first restaurant in Dubai next year. Housed at The Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will feature contemporary twists on recipes that date back to the 1300s, including goats’ milk cheesecake. Always remember with a Blumenthal dish: nothing is quite as it seems.
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Company%20Profile
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Fixtures (all times UAE)
Saturday
Brescia v Atalanta (6pm)
Genoa v Torino (9pm)
Fiorentina v Lecce (11.45pm)
Sunday
Juventus v Sassuolo (3.30pm)
Inter Milan v SPAL (6pm)
Lazio v Udinese (6pm)
Parma v AC Milan (6pm)
Napoli v Bologna (9pm)
Verona v AS Roma (11.45pm)
Monday
Cagliari v Sampdoria (11.45pm)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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