Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola displayed signs that he has yet to fully adapt to life at the German champions following Wednesday’s win over Manchester United, complaining of a passive home crowd and the huge expectations placed upon his team.
The Bavarians remain on course for a second successive treble, having already sewn up the Bundesliga, and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League and DFB-Pokal in the Spaniard’s maiden season at the club.
However, they are not playing with quite the same authority as last season, when they dispatched Juventus 4-0 on aggregate in the Champions League quarter-finals and demolished Barcelona 7-0 in the last four under retired coach Jupp Heynckes.
“When you don’t win, people ask why, but this is football. You can’t win all the time but we have won the championship, we are in the Champions League semi-final,” Guardiola told reporters after the 3-1 second leg win at Allianz Arena.
“Everything is not enough in this club.”
Guardiola added that the crowd only got behind his team in the last half an hour, when they came from behind for a win that secured a 4-2 aggregate triumph.
“Maybe we have to play better. After Patrice Evra’s goal (for Manchester United), people stood up and began making a noise. I hope that in the semi-final they do that, we need the public to support us.
“We need everyone together,” he added. “We cannot get to the final without our fans, we need them, we can’t do this alone. We need our fans and I’m certain they will help us.”
Guardiola is also struggling with the language, often mixing German and English in the same sentence and getting his word order wrong. During press conferences, he often has to ask Bayern’s media officer to help with his vocabulary.
Guardiola once again surprised observers with his lineup for Wednesday’s match as he responded to the suspensions of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Javi Martinez, who both play in front of the defence.
The Spaniard pulled a central midfield triangle out of his sleeve, consisting of Thomas Mueller, Toni Kroos and Mario Goetze, who are all attacking players, plus Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben on the flanks and Mario Mandzukic as centre forward.
Kroos often dropped back to join the central defenders when Bayern were playing their way out of defence, while right back Philipp Lahm kept popping up in central midfield.
David Alaba, the left back, rarely got forward in his usual style as he was pegged back by Manchester United winger Antonio Valencia.
In the event, it did not really work. Bayern enjoyed heaps of possession but struggled to create real openings in an uninspiring first hour, when they depended heavily on Robben’s twisting runs.
The game changed significantly in the 65th minute when right-back Rafinha replaced Goetze and Lahm moved to the central midfield role he has played for most of this season and Bayern ended up comfortable winners.
“We knew it would be difficult,” Guardiola said. “The Champions League is the Champions League and Manchester United had the goalkeeper and eight players in the penalty area.
“We were patient and a bit lucky at the end. My players have great heart. This is the best part of the season and we are in an outstanding situation.”
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Dark Souls: Remastered
Developer: From Software (remaster by QLOC)
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Price: Dh199
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
Christopher Robin
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Haley Atwell, Jim Cummings, Peter Capaldi
Three stars
The specs: 2018 Jaguar F-Type Convertible
Price, base / as tested: Dh283,080 / Dh318,465
Engine: 2.0-litre inline four-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 295hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 400Nm @ 1,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.2L / 100km
Fixtures:
Wed Aug 29 – Malaysia v Hong Kong, Nepal v Oman, UAE v Singapore
Thu Aug 30 - UAE v Nepal, Hong Kong v Singapore, Malaysia v Oman
Sat Sep 1 - UAE v Hong Kong, Oman v Singapore, Malaysia v Nepal
Sun Sep 2 – Hong Kong v Oman, Malaysia v UAE, Nepal v Singapore
Tue Sep 4 - Malaysia v Singapore, UAE v Oman, Nepal v Hong Kong
Thu Sep 6 – Final
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
Directed by: Shaka King
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons
Four stars
Ads on social media can 'normalise' drugs
A UK report on youth social media habits commissioned by advocacy group Volteface found a quarter of young people were exposed to illegal drug dealers on social media.
The poll of 2,006 people aged 16-24 assessed their exposure to drug dealers online in a nationally representative survey.
Of those admitting to seeing drugs for sale online, 56 per cent saw them advertised on Snapchat, 55 per cent on Instagram and 47 per cent on Facebook.
Cannabis was the drug most pushed by online dealers, with 63 per cent of survey respondents claiming to have seen adverts on social media for the drug, followed by cocaine (26 per cent) and MDMA/ecstasy, with 24 per cent of people.
How it works
Each player begins with one of the great empires of history, from Julius Caesar's Rome to Ramses of Egypt, spread over Europe and the Middle East.
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A dice-based battle system is used and players can get the edge on their enemy with by deploying a renowned hero on the battlefield.
Players that lose battles and land will find their coffers dwindle and troops go hungry. The end goal? Global domination of course.
TOURNAMENT INFO
Opening fixtures:
Friday, Oct 5
8pm: Kabul Zwanan v Paktia Panthers
Saturday, Oct 6
4pm: Nangarhar Leopards v Kandahar Knights
8pm: Kabul Zwanan v Balkh Legends
Tickets
Tickets can be bought online at https://www.q-tickets.com/apl/eventlist and at the ticket office at the stadium.
TV info
The tournament will be broadcast live in the UAE on OSN Sports.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
About RuPay
A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank
RuPay process payments between banks and merchants for purchases made with credit or debit cards
It has grown rapidly in India and competes with global payment network firms like MasterCard and Visa.
In India, it can be used at ATMs, for online payments and variations of the card can be used to pay for bus, metro charges, road toll payments
The name blends two words rupee and payment
Some advantages of the network include lower processing fees and transaction costs
Brief scoreline:
Wales 1
James 5'
Slovakia 0
Man of the Match: Dan James (Wales)
