Last season’s Champions League finalists Atletico Madrid are in desperate need of three points to kick-start their European campaign when Italian champions Juventus visit the Spanish capital on Wednesday.
La Liga champions Atletico were surprisingly beaten 3-2 in their first group match away to Olympiakos a fortnight ago, conceding as many goals as they did in the whole of the group stage last season in the process.
However, Diego Simeone’s men appear to have rediscovered their defensive solidity in the past week with back-to-back wins and clean sheets, including an impressive 4-0 thrashing of the previously unbeaten Sevilla at the weekend.
Simeone’s return to the touchline after a six-game ban in all competitions appeared to galvanise the team and supporters alike, and the Argentine has called on the fans to recreate the atmosphere for the visit of Juventus.
“The atmosphere is what we need in all the games at the Calderon,” he said.
“There was a perfect communion between what the team offered and what the fans experience in the stadium. It felt like there was a mountain of us on the pitch.”
Despite Atletico’s Champions League struggles in Greece, they have managed to beat Real Madrid twice already this season in the league and Spanish Super Cup.
And Simeone believes those games should give his side heart that they can take down Max Allegri’s side, who have won all six of their games so far this season.
“There is a difference when you are competing across a whole season compared to the situation in one game.
“When we play against Madrid, Barcelona or Juventus it is clear we have a chance because it is just one game.”
Atletico were also aided by the return of striker Mario Mandzukic against Sevilla as the Croatian played with a mask protecting a broken nose he suffered just 11 days previously against Olympiakos.
However, Atletico may have to do without influential captain Gabi as he limped off at half-time at the weekend with an ankle injury.
Juventus’ bid to make up for the disappointment of bowing out at the group stages last season got off to a good start on Matchday 1 as two goals from Carlos Tevez gave them a 2-0 home win over Malmo.
Italian international Claudio Marchisio believes the match against the Swedish champions was an encouraging sign and is hoping to take a huge step towards winning the group in Madrid.
“We haven’t been able to make the step up in Europe over the last three years. We started well in our first game at home, where in previous seasons we missed important opportunities,” he told the club’s website.
“Now we’ve got a tricky game in Madrid. We need to also try and pick up a result there because we’d gain a lot of confidence from beating a great team like Atletico.
“Opening up a six-point gap on them would represent a big step forward towards qualification, even though the result in Athens showed us there are no easy games in this group and that Olympiakos are also capable of giving us a run for our money.”
Juve will once again be without Andrea Pirlo as he is yet to feature this season due to a thigh injury.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Tips for used car buyers
- Choose cars with GCC specifications
- Get a service history for cars less than five years old
- Don’t go cheap on the inspection
- Check for oil leaks
- Do a Google search on the standard problems for your car model
- Do your due diligence. Get a transfer of ownership done at an official RTA centre
- Check the vehicle’s condition. You don’t want to buy a car that’s a good deal but ends up costing you Dh10,000 in repairs every month
- Validate warranty and service contracts with the relevant agency and and make sure they are valid when ownership is transferred
- If you are planning to sell the car soon, buy one with a good resale value. The two most popular cars in the UAE are black or white in colour and other colours are harder to sell
Tarek Kabrit, chief executive of Seez, and Imad Hammad, chief executive and co-founder of CarSwitch.com
The biog
Year of birth: 1988
Place of birth: Baghdad
Education: PhD student and co-researcher at Greifswald University, Germany
Hobbies: Ping Pong, swimming, reading
