Thirty minutes into Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg between Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund, the Olympic Stadium’s scoreboard showed a statistic that the home team had completed 225 passes against 69 from Dortmund.
Barcelona’s constant unified pressing and their persistent forward passing helped bring about a 4-0 win with one of their best performances of the season. It’s becoming a trend.
A decade after Luis Enrique led Barcelona to their last Champions League title, and half a decade since they last reached the semi-final stage, Barcelona are clear favourites to make the last four after demolishing Dortmund.
The visitors were missing senior players Marcel Sabitzer, Pascal Gross and Nico Schlotterback, and they’ll have a raucous 81,000 crowd behind them for next week’s second leg, but it would be the surprise of the season if they overcame a four-goal deficit.
Hansi Flick’s side assaulted the Dortmund goal from the first minute, with Lamine Yamal almost scoring twice in the first 10 minutes.
Barcelona have a mixture of youth and experience and Flick has brought the most exciting football to the city in the post-Lionel Messi era.
They’re unbeaten in 2025, have already won the Spanish Super Cup, face Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final, lead La Liga by four points, and are advancing in Europe after four below par seasons in continental competition.
They could lift a quadruple and return to Camp Nou in what could be an epic 2025 - but Flick keeps his players in check in a way in which Dortmund struggled to.
The contrast between Yamal, 17, and Robert Lewandowski, 36, delights and occasionally frustrates. The Pole pleaded for the ball from the youngster early in the game, and while Yamal’s decision-making often belies his years, he’s still got much to learn, and Flick was often in his ear with intense instructions. Both would eventually be among the goals.
Lewandowski left Dortmund in 2014 and had played against his former team 28 times since. On Wednesday he scored his 28th and 29th goals in those games. The stats are staggering at either end of the career spectrum. At 17 years and 270 days, Yamal became the first player under the age of 18 to make 20 Champions League appearances.
Dortmund, finalists against Real Madrid last year, have suffered this season. Eighth in the Bundesliga, they were underdogs against a team who’d already defeated them 3-2 at home in a wild October group game. Barcelona have learnt from then, their defence is less leaky and they dominated the early exchanges, yet Dortmund, backed by a vocal 3,000 following among the 49,760 crowd, had two excellent first-half chances from Serhou Guirassy.
By that time, home captain Raphinha had given the Catalans the one-goal lead they’d take into the break as he touched a ball that was already going in, preventing Pau Cubarsi from earning a first ever Champions League goal.
Raphinha, who apologised to Cubarsi, has scored a ridiculous 12 goals in 11 Champions League games this season. The Raphinha, Lewandowski, Yamal forward trident is sublime.
Yamal got his side’s fourth after 77 minutes, prodding past Gregor Kobel with the type of instinct Lewandowski had earlier shown when he swept the third goal in. It was Lamal’s 14th of the season, Lewandowski now has 40.
“I play with teammates of such a high level here, it makes things a joy,” said Raphinha “We all know each other well and that relationship level helps us as a team. Our stats are spectacular this season and I just hope that continues.”
Barcelona are having so much fun, but it’s not only about their front players. Frenkie de Jong is back in the team and, alongside Pedri, helping them dominate and control. Right back Jules Kounde marauds into the midfield.
"We’re not through yet,” said Flick after the game. “Winning by this many goals is important and, when a team plays as well as that, goals normally do flow. We aren’t thinking we are through because you simply never know what might happen. Football is madness. We’ll be determined to play like this again next week.”
“Dortmund are a good team so we are already aware that we need to travel over there and commit as few errors as possible. Our three guys up front are terrific and very important but so is our defence. And our guys who come off the bench and somehow manage to hit the same performance level as the players they replace.”
It’s daunting for Dortmund. “We need to defend together,” said their coach Niko Kovac after the game. “We face Bayern [on Saturday] and they’re at a similar level to Barcelona. All in all, over our next two games we need to position ourselves much better defensively. If we don’t do that with intensity against a team like this, who have more than one world-class player, then it’s too difficult.”
Muslim Council of Elders condemns terrorism on religious sites
The Muslim Council of Elders has strongly condemned the criminal attacks on religious sites in Britain.
It firmly rejected “acts of terrorism, which constitute a flagrant violation of the sanctity of houses of worship”.
“Attacking places of worship is a form of terrorism and extremism that threatens peace and stability within societies,” it said.
The council also warned against the rise of hate speech, racism, extremism and Islamophobia. It urged the international community to join efforts to promote tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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WITHIN%20SAND
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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
Company%20Profile
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Indoor Cricket World Cup Dubai 2017
Venue Insportz, Dubai; Admission Free
Day 1 fixtures (Saturday)
Men 1.45pm, Malaysia v Australia (Court 1); Singapore v India (Court 2); UAE v New Zealand (Court 3); South Africa v Sri Lanka (Court 4)
Women Noon, New Zealand v South Africa (Court 3); England v UAE (Court 4); 5.15pm, Australia v UAE (Court 3); England v New Zealand (Court 4)
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The Energy Research Centre
Founded 50 years ago as a nuclear research institute, scientists at the centre believed nuclear would be the “solution for everything”.
Although they still do, they discovered in 1955 that the Netherlands had a lot of natural gas. “We still had the idea that, by 2000, it would all be nuclear,” said Harm Jeeninga, director of business and programme development at the centre.
"In the 1990s, we found out about global warming so we focused on energy savings and tackling the greenhouse gas effect.”
The energy centre’s research focuses on biomass, energy efficiency, the environment, wind and solar, as well as energy engineering and socio-economic research.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
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
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
BULKWHIZ PROFILE
Date started: February 2017
Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce
Size: 50 employees
Funding: approximately $6m
Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait
Winners
Ballon d’Or (Men’s)
Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain / France)
Ballon d’Or Féminin (Women’s)
Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona / Spain)
Kopa Trophy (Best player under 21 – Men’s)
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona / Spain)
Best Young Women’s Player
Vicky López (Barcelona / Spain)
Yashin Trophy (Best Goalkeeper – Men’s)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City / Italy)
Best Women’s Goalkeeper
Hannah Hampton (England / Aston Villa and Chelsea)
Men’s Coach of the Year
Luis Enrique (Paris Saint-Germain)
Women’s Coach of the Year
Sarina Wiegman (England)
Banthology: Stories from Unwanted Nations
Edited by Sarah Cleave, Comma Press
Company%20profile%20
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Teams
India (playing XI): Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami
South Africa (squad): Faf du Plessis (c), Temba Bavuma, Theunis de Bruyn, Quinton de Kock, Dean Elgar, Zubayr Hamza, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Senuran Muthusamy, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Vernon Philander, Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada, Rudi Second
Other IPL batting records
Most sixes: 292 – Chris Gayle
Most fours: 491 – Gautam Gambhir
Highest individual score: 175 not out – Chris Gayle (for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors in 2013)
Highest strike-rate: 177.29 – Andre Russell
Highest strike-rate in an innings: 422.22 – Chris Morris (for Delhi Daredevils against Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017)
Highest average: 52.16 – Vijay Shankar
Most centuries: 6 – Chris Gayle
Most fifties: 36 – Gautam Gambhir
Fastest hundred (balls faced): 30 – Chris Gayle (for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors in 2013)
Fastest fifty (balls faced): 14 – Lokesh Rahul (for Kings XI Punjab against Delhi Daredevils in 2018)
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
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Match info
Uefa Nations League A Group 4
England 2 (Lingard 78', Kane 85')
Croatia 1 (Kramaric 57')
Man of the match: Harry Kane (England)
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Mobile phone packages comparison
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
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Company%20Profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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FA Cup quarter-final draw
The matches will be played across the weekend of 21 and 22 March
Sheffield United v Arsenal
Newcastle v Manchester City
Norwich v Derby/Manchester United
Leicester City v Chelsea
