It was around half past nine, English time, on the third Wednesday of October, that Porto last conceded a goal in the Champions League.
It was Matchday 1, and Manchester City, thanks to Ferran Torres's strike, sealed a 3-1 comeback win. From there, you might have imagined, a Porto in patchy domestic form would face an uphill struggle to make the knockouts.
But by December 2nd they had cruised into the last 16, the only club there from outside the top five European leagues, and boasting a pristine record.
They have played eight hours of Champions League football since Torres arrowed his shot past Agustin Marchesin, the Porto goalkeeper. That’s a long time in the sport’s most prestigious club competition, as its greatest goalscorer would certainly testify.
On his way to winning the fourth of his five European Cups, in 2017, Cristiano Ronaldo scored 10 times in less than eight hours on the pitch; on the way to his fifth, the following season, he had scored 15 goals before reaching the semi-finals.
All of which sets up Wednesday’s visit of Ronaldo’s Juventus to his native Portugal as precisely the sort of challenge he relishes: a stubborn defence to unpick, one part of which he knows intimately.
A principal barrier to the CR7 juggernaut will be Pepe, an international colleague of Ronaldo’s for the last 14 years, a team-mate at Real Madrid for eight seasons and a firm friend to a megastar who tends to be selective about who regards as a genuine buddy.
In between their 324 matches as teammates – including three European Cup triumphs with Madrid and the Euro 2016 title with Portugal – Pepe and Ronaldo “have had many battles in training,” the former told uefa.com. Those jousts would have left some bruises on Ronaldo. The successes achieved by Pepe in his long career were gained thanks to his athleticism, strength and to plenty of aggression.
The Brazil-born defender will turn 38 between the first and second legs of the tie against Juventus. Ronaldo, meanwhile, celebrated his 36th birthday this month.
Neither show signs of any waning appetite for the game. Pepe reached his century of Champions League matches in the group phase, while Ronaldo will eclipse Iker Casillas’ record number of games in the competition – 177 – this season if Juventus progress to the quarter-finals and their main match-winner remains fit and available.
His 134 Champions League goals are unmatched by anybody in history, and show little sign of slowing. He has four from his last three European matches for Juventus. “Now we are in the knockout rounds, he’ll be even hungrier to score,” warned Juventus manager Andrea Pirlo.
The apparently impregnable hosts are up against a different level of potency than they faced in the group stage against Olympiakos and Marseille as manager Sergio Conceicao made clear yesterday. “I expect a very strong Juventus,” he said, noting Juve’s last adventure in Iberia, at the end of the group phase, with a dry irony. “They only beat Barcelona 3-0 away, after all.”
That, like Porto’s impregnable run, is now at some distance. Conceicao has been under some scrutiny for his team’s stagnant domestic form, with successive draws in the Primeira Liga having widened the gap between Porto, the title-holders, and leaders Sporting to 10 points. Juventus will recognise that sort of discomfort.
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The changing faces of Cristiano Ronaldo
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They lost to Napoli at the weekend and the defence of their Serie A crown is faltering, at eight points behind leaders Inter Milan.
“The Champions League is different,” said Pirlo, hopefully. “It has its own special flavour and gets the adrenaline going. We know for these 180 minutes we need to be clear-headed.”
Juventus would be confronting a team who “vary their approach,” he added. “They are more attacking in their own championship than in the Champions League, where they are very good defensively, and at building from the back.”
Pirlo, who will be without Leonardo Bonucci in defence and Paulo Dybala up front because of injury, identified Pepe’s experience as key and praised Conceicao both as a coach and as the player he recalled from the former Portugal winger’s time with Parma, Lazio and Inter.
Pirlo may get a glimpse of the next Conceicao generation this evening. The Porto coach’s son, Francisco, made his senior debut in the 2-2 draw with Boavista at the weekend.
His father smiled when he was asked if might give his boy a European debut, answering only that he was registered in the squad. If he does appear, Pepe and Ronaldo will feel their age. Conceicao junior has only recently turned 18.
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
'The Sky is Everywhere'
Director:Josephine Decker
Stars:Grace Kaufman, Pico Alexander, Jacques Colimon
Rating:2/5
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Company%20profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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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
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi
Director: Kangana Ranaut, Krish Jagarlamudi
Producer: Zee Studios, Kamal Jain
Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Ankita Lokhande, Danny Denzongpa, Atul Kulkarni
Rating: 2.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
RESULTS
Cagliari 5-2 Fiorentina
Udinese 0-0 SPAL
Sampdoria 0-0 Atalanta
Lazio 4-2 Lecce
Parma 2-0 Roma
Juventus 1-0 AC Milan
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
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
RESULTS
2pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (Dirt) 1,200m
Winner: Najem Al Rwasi, Fabrice Veron (jockey), Ahmed Al Shemaili (trainer)
2.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Fandim, Fernando Jara, Majed Al Jahouri
3pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Harbh, Pat Cosgrave, Ahmed Al Mehairbi
3.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Wakeel W’Rsan, Richard Mullen, Jaci Wickham
4pm: Crown Prince of Sharjah Cup Prestige (PA) Dh200,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Jawaal, Fernando Jara, Majed Al Jahouri
4.30pm: Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup (TB) Dh200,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Tailor’s Row, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Sunday:
GP3 race: 12:10pm
Formula 2 race: 1:35pm
Formula 1 race: 5:10pm
Performance: Guns N' Roses
What is Diwali?
The Hindu festival is at once a celebration of the autumn harvest and the triumph of good over evil, as outlined in the Ramayana.
According to the Sanskrit epic, penned by the sage Valmiki, Diwali marks the time that the exiled king Rama – a mortal with superhuman powers – returned home to the city of Ayodhya with his wife Sita and brother Lakshman, after vanquishing the 10-headed demon Ravana and conquering his kingdom of Lanka. The people of Ayodhya are believed to have lit thousands of earthen lamps to illuminate the city and to guide the royal family home.
In its current iteration, Diwali is celebrated with a puja to welcome the goodness of prosperity Lakshmi (an incarnation of Sita) into the home, which is decorated with diyas (oil lamps) or fairy lights and rangoli designs with coloured powder. Fireworks light up the sky in some parts of the word, and sweetmeats are made (or bought) by most households. It is customary to get new clothes stitched, and visit friends and family to exchange gifts and greetings.
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Read more about the coronavirus
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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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