It was the summer of 2018. Adel Taarabt had spent some of it watching the World Cup on television, as his ex-international teammates with Morocco distinguished themselves in a tough group, and as France, whom he played for at youth level, went on to lift the trophy. Taarabt felt restless, left out.
By August, things were looking up. Taarabt, then 29, was on the verge of the move he hoped would realign his confoundingly haphazard career. Nantes, of France’s Ligue 1, seemed keen to sign him. He shared a promising conversation with the club’s president, Waldemar Kita, who paused at one point to ask the player: “How come a footballer with so much talent has changed clubs so often?”
Taarabt replied that, for a kid who had started his senior career so young, a total of six clubs did not seem too many. He had miscounted. The Taarabt saga covers many more than six moves, in a journey that has zigzagged as much one of his mazy slaloms down the wing.
It goes from Fes, Morocco, where he was born, to France, where, at Lens he was dubbed ‘The New Zidane’ by the age of 16. Then to Tottenham Hotspur at 17, to cult status at Queen’s Park Rangers at 20. Then Fulham, AC Milan, Queens Park Rangers again, Genoa and Benfica.
And then there’s clubs Taarabt was supposed to have joined: Barcelona or Real Madrid; a very real approach from a newly enriched Paris Saint-Germain; Arsenal; clubs in the Gulf. Those were the deals that never happened, the dream moves for a uniquely gifted entertainer who, by the time he was negotiating with Nantes, had a reputation as a man out of time, unable to adapt, a fabulous trickster with a brilliant highlights reel, but never with enough sweat left on the various jerseys he had worn.
The Nantes move never happened either, and at the close of the summer transfer window in 2018, Taarabt resumed what must technically be described as his ‘career’ with Portugal’s most fabled club. He had signed for Benfica in 2015, from QPR. He only played his first senior fixture for them almost four years later.
In between times there was a loan to Genoa - who had taken Taarabt on, having remembered how he briefly lit up a truly maverick Milan forward line also featuring Mario Balotelli and Robinho - but also very long periods on the margins. For much of last season, Taarabt was turning out with the kids and the left-behinds for Benfica B.
Yet the player who re-emerged over the last 12 months, and will from Thursday night be central to Benfica’s tussle with Porto for the Portuguese title, is a player transformed. Taarabt, the king of the nifty nutmeg, the Zidane-style pirouette, and the spectacular goal from long range, has redefined himself as a box-to-box footballer, from a position at the base of midfield, enforcer as much as a creator.
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Benfica: Inside the finest finishing school in football
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The metamorphosis startles those he frustrated in his younger years. Juande Ramos, who coached Spurs while the club were congratulating themselves on having captured the teenaged Taarabt in 2007, described to O Jogo newspaper "the incredible change in terms of his defensive work" Ramos had seen in Taarabt's performances for Benfica, up until the suspension of football because of the coronavirus crisis in March.
“He has shifted his mentality,” said Ramos. “When he was with us, he only ever thought of keeping the ball, nutmegging opponents, and going for goal. The collective, team responsibilities were put aside. Now, you can do that if you are a superstar who decides games regularly. It wasn’t the case with him when he was at Spurs.”
It was the case for a time at QPR, albeit at Championship, second-tier level. A decade ago, Taarabt was the outstanding entertainer in that division. His solo goal against Preston North End in 2009-10 still draws oohs and aahs when it is broadcast. But he would exasperate even those managers who are tolerant of maverick talents. Harry Redknapp, while at QPR, tired of Taarabt’s wilful individualism.
The player who now patrols central midfield for Benfica, tackles vigorously, looks for the early pass when it is available, can still stimulate the old instincts, and let his quick feet and easy balance launch a dribbling run. But he chooses his moments.
He credits Bruno Lage, Benfica’s manager, for encouraging him to master the central midfield role, and for seeing his potential for it. Taarabt, who turned 31 last month, is back playing for Morocco, too, in a deeper position, after an absence from international football of almost five years.
“He lost a lot of time for a player of his talent,” Ramos said. “But he should be proud of how he has changed his game, and matured. It’s a hard thing to do at any age.”
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Leaderboard
63 - Mike Lorenzo-Vera (FRA)
64 - Rory McIlroy (NIR)
66 - Jon Rahm (ESP)
67 - Tom Lewis (ENG), Tommy Fleetwood (ENG)
68 - Rafael Cabrera-Bello (ESP), Marcus Kinhult (SWE)
69 - Justin Rose (ENG), Thomas Detry (BEL), Francesco Molinari (ITA), Danny Willett (ENG), Li Haotong (CHN), Matthias Schwab (AUT)
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Coming 2 America
Directed by: Craig Brewer
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones
3/5 stars
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
'My Son'
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis
Rating: 2/5
The%20trailblazers
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West Asia Premiership
Dubai Hurricanes 58-10 Dubai Knights Eagles
Dubai Tigers 5-39 Bahrain
Jebel Ali Dragons 16-56 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
FFP EXPLAINED
What is Financial Fair Play?
Introduced in 2011 by Uefa, European football’s governing body, it demands that clubs live within their means. Chiefly, spend within their income and not make substantial losses.
What the rules dictate?
The second phase of its implementation limits losses to €30 million (Dh136m) over three seasons. Extra expenditure is permitted for investment in sustainable areas (youth academies, stadium development, etc). Money provided by owners is not viewed as income. Revenue from “related parties” to those owners is assessed by Uefa's “financial control body” to be sure it is a fair value, or in line with market prices.
What are the penalties?
There are a number of punishments, including fines, a loss of prize money or having to reduce squad size for European competition – as happened to PSG in 2014. There is even the threat of a competition ban, which could in theory lead to PSG’s suspension from the Uefa Champions League.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
if you go
The flights
Air Astana flies direct from Dubai to Almaty from Dh2,440 per person return, and to Astana (via Almaty) from Dh2,930 return, both including taxes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Almaty cost from Dh1,944 per night including taxes; and in Astana the new Ritz-Carlton Astana (www.marriott) costs from Dh1,325; alternatively, the new St Regis Astana costs from Dh1,458 per night including taxes.
When to visit
March-May and September-November
Visas
Citizens of many countries, including the UAE do not need a visa to enter Kazakhstan for up to 30 days. Contact the nearest Kazakhstan embassy or consulate.
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Which honey takes your fancy?
Al Ghaf Honey
The Al Ghaf tree is a local desert tree which bears the harsh summers with drought and high temperatures. From the rich flowers, bees that pollinate this tree can produce delicious red colour honey in June and July each year
Sidr Honey
The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest
Samar Honey
The Samar tree trunk, leaves and blossom contains Barm which is the secret of healing. You can enjoy the best types of honey from this tree every year in May and June. It is an historical witness to the life of the Emirati nation which represents the harsh desert and mountain environments
Company%20profile
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Specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201.5-litre%20turbo%204-cylinder%20%2F%202.0%20turbo%204-cylinder%20(S3)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20148bhp%20%2F%20328bhp%20(S3)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20250Nm%20%2F%20420Nm%20(S3)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20December%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20TBA%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Brief scores:
Day 1
Toss: India, chose to bat
India (1st innings): 215-2 (89 ov)
Agarwal 76, Pujara 68 not out; Cummins 2-40
