Layvin Kurzawa scored a second-half winner as four-time reigning French champions Paris Saint-Germain began the defence of their Ligue 1 crown with an unconvincing 1-0 victory at Bastia on Friday.
Unai Emery's side demolished Lyon 4-1 last weekend in the Champions Trophy, but PSG were forced to wait until the 73rd minute at the Stade Armand Cesari before Kurzawa volleyed home the decisive goal.
“It wasn’t the match I’d hoped for, but the players had warned me of what it would be like to face Bastia,” said Emery.
“We didn’t play like we did against Lyon but it was a different game. It was a bit like the friendly against West Brom, a very defensive team who play on the counter-attack.”
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He added: “We were a bit more aggressive (in the second half). We had four, five, six chances ... but you have to score, and it’s always difficult getting the first goal.”
After finishing an incredible 31 points clear at the top last season, Paris are the early league leaders in France as AS Monaco rallied from two goals down to draw 2-2 at home to Guingamp in their opening game of the campaign.
Hatem Ben Arfa was the only one of five close-season signings named in PSG’s starting line-up in Corsica, with Jese Rodriguez and Thomas Meunier both named on the bench and Grzegorz Krychowiak left out altogether after playing for Poland at Euro 2016.
PSG were also again without captain Thiago Silva and Edinson Cavani through injury, while Adrien Rabiot replaced Benjamin Stambouli in midfield with the latter reportedly on his way out of the club.
Neither side produced a chance of note in a gritty opening 45 minutes, while Brazilian winger Lucas Moura crumpled to the ground midway through the second half after he appeared to be struck by an object as he lined up to take a corner.
The referee briefly halted play as stewards restored calm in the stands, and just a few minutes later Kurzawa delivered the vital goal after Jese, put through by Angel Di Maria, had seen his effort blocked by Bastia goalkeeper Jean-Louis Leca.
Marco Verratti and Blaise Matuidi made late appearances off the bench for PSG, with a robust challenge from the latter sparking a fractious finish to the match.
Monaco, who travel to Villarreal on Wednesday for first leg of their Champions League play-off, recovered from 2-0 down against Guingamp to salvage a point at the Stade Louis II.
First-half goals from Moustapha Diallo and Sloan Privat had put Antoine Kombouare’s men seemingly in control, but Monaco clawed their way back through a 71st-minute penalty from Fabinho and Bernardo Silva’s equaliser six minutes from time.
On Saturday, Saint-Etienne visit Bordeaux while Lyon go to promoted Nancy on Sunday and Marseille host Toulouse in the final game of the weekend.
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Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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Tips for taking the metro
- set out well ahead of time
- make sure you have at least Dh15 on you Nol card, as there could be big queues for top-up machines
- enter the right cabin. The train may be too busy to move between carriages once you're on
- don't carry too much luggage and tuck it under a seat to make room for fellow passengers
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.
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
