Some time over the last, breathless 18 months, Borussia Dortmund mislaid their element of surprise. The team who blitzed their way past Premier League title holders Manchester City, then Spanish champions Real Madrid before giving Bayern Munich an enthralling tussle in the Champions League final at Wembley, will head along the same path tonight acutely aware they are not quite what they were.
A measure of that can be detected in how strongly Real Madrid, convincingly blitzed by Borussia in the semi-final last season, are favoured to go through at Dortmund's expense over two legs of their quarter-final.
Dortmund’s fading aura might be diagnosed in several ways. Fatigue is an obvious one.
“What has happened to us in terms of injuries this season is just incredible,” Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp said before setting off for the Spanish capital.
Of the XI who made the same journey last April, to complete a 4-3 aggregate victory over Madrid and reach the final, only four are likely to start against a side whose fitness concerns are minimal.
Cristiano Ronaldo's cut knee is not deemed a grave impediment to his participation.
Klopp, by contrast, will be without defenders Neven Subotic and Marcel Schmelzer, and midfield trio Ilkay Gundogan, Sven Bender and Jakub Blaszczykowski. Worse, Robert Lewandowksi, the centre-forward, is suspended.
Since the last meeting of the two clubs, Mario Goetze has left, to join Bayern, which Lewandowski will also do this summer.
Klopp’s challenge is how to cover those positions and revive the high-speed, aggressive, compact style that has gained Dortmund their successes – two Bundesliga titles in the past four years, plus a German Cup in 2012 – under his watch.
The domestic version of his side this season has often appeared too docile. They may well maintain last year's second place in the Bundesliga but Dortmund have not been capable of stopping Bayern – whom they trail by 23 points – from completing the quickest conclusion to a German title race in history.
Dortmund’s task, in a land where a predatory Bayern regularly target and snatch their best footballers, is to be shrewd in their scouting and recruiting. The most significant additions since last season have been Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, not players likely to illuminate World Cup tournaments in their career spans, being from Armenia and Gabon respectively.
But for that, they carry a potential element of surprise, of the sort that stunned Madrid 11 months ago.
Aubameyang looks the likeliest candidate to replace Lewandowski, assuming Klopp is confident he is fully over the flu that restricted him to a half-hour appearance from the bench in the weekend win against Stuttgart.
Aubayemang has 13 Bundesliga goals from 19 starts this season, an endorsement of the idea that his skills set made him “the perfect fit” for Dortmund – as he said when he arrived last summer.
Specifically, he thought his startling pace would suit Klopp’s emphasis on rapid counter-attack. At 1.85 metres tall, he also has a good leap and is useful in the air.
Aubayemang, 24, is brisk. As a teenager at AC Milan, he was timed at 3.9 seconds over 30 metres. Seldom short of self-confidence, he boasts he has since shaved two-tenths of a second off that.
He comes from a distinguished footballing family. His father, Pierre, was a stalwart of the Gabon national team in the 1980s and 1990s and had a long club career in France. Three of Pierre’s sons have represented the national team, though Pierre-Emerick, who led the line for Gabon at the 2012 Olympic Games, has been the most successful.
Last season, for Saint Etienne, he was second to Paris Saint-Germain’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the French Ligue 1 goalscorers’ rankings, and Dortmund were not alone for their interest in signing him. Dortmund paid about €13 million (Dh65.8m).
He could hardly have made a stronger first impression. He hit a hat-trick on the opening day of the Bundesliga season, against Augsburg. His goals in the German Cup have also been important in guiding Dortmund to the semi-final.
In the Champions League, Aubameyang's distinctive somersault goal celebrations have been fewer. He registered his only strike in a 3-1 win over Napoli.
Lewandowski has been Dortmund’s principal spearhead in Europe with six goals so far. The Pole is a hard act to understudy.
sports@thenational.ae
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed
Based: Muscat
Launch year: 2018
Number of employees: 40
Sector: Online food delivery
Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception
More on Quran memorisation:
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Expert advice
“Join in with a group like Cycle Safe Dubai or TrainYAS, where you’ll meet like-minded people and always have support on hand.”
Stewart Howison, co-founder of Cycle Safe Dubai and owner of Revolution Cycles
“When you sweat a lot, you lose a lot of salt and other electrolytes from your body. If your electrolytes drop enough, you will be at risk of cramping. To prevent salt deficiency, simply add an electrolyte mix to your water.”
Cornelia Gloor, head of RAK Hospital’s Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy Centre
“Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can ride as fast or as far during the summer as you do in cooler weather. The heat will make you expend more energy to maintain a speed that might normally be comfortable, so pace yourself when riding during the hotter parts of the day.”
Chandrashekar Nandi, physiotherapist at Burjeel Hospital in Dubai
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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
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
More coverage from the Future Forum
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
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
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
HOW TO WATCH
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Twitter: @thenationalnews
Instagram: @thenationalnews.com
TikTok: @thenationalnews
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Sanju
Produced: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Anushka Sharma, Manish’s Koirala, Dia Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Boman Irani
Rating: 3.5 stars
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What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
The biog
Family: He is the youngest of five brothers, of whom two are dentists.
Celebrities he worked on: Fabio Canavaro, Lojain Omran, RedOne, Saber Al Rabai.
Where he works: Liberty Dental Clinic
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Company Profile
Founders: Tamara Hachem and Yazid Erman
Based: Dubai
Launched: September 2019
Sector: health technology
Stage: seed
Investors: Oman Technology Fund, angel investor and grants from Sharjah's Sheraa and Ma'an Abu Dhabi
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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