MONACO // The European champions Inter Milan were grouped with Werder Bremen, Tottenham Hotspur and Twente Enschede in the draw for the group stage of the Champions League today.
Jose Mourinho, who left Inter Milan for Real Madrid after leading Inter to their first European Cup success for 45 years in May, returns to the San Siro to face AC Milan with Real in a group that also includes Ajax Amsterdam and Auxerre.
Bayern Munich, who lost May's final to Inter in Madrid, will face AS Roma, Basel and CFR Cluj in their opening matches.
Chelsea, who lost an all-English final in Moscow to Manchester United in 2008, will return to the Russian capital to face Spartak Moscow in their group, which also includes Olympique Marseille and Zilina.
The Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, who once played for Rangers and has strong links with Glasgow will return to his home city after United were grouped with Rangers, Valencia and Bursaspor.
The Spanish giants Barcelona, European champions in 2009, face Panathinaikos, FC Copenhagen and Russians Rubin Kazan, who scored a shock win over Barca at the Nou Camp last season in the group stage.
* Reuters
GROUP A
Inter Milan
Werder Bremen
Tottenham Hotspur
Twente Enschede
GROUP B
Olympique Lyon
Benfica
Schalke 04
Hapoel Tel-Aviv
GROUP C
Manchester United
Valencia
Rangers
Bursaspor
GROUP D
Barcelona
Panathinaikos
FC Copenhagen
Rubin Kazan
GROUP E
Bayern Munich
AS Roma
Basel
CFR Cluj
GROUP F
Chelsea
Olympique Marseille
Spartak Moscow
Zilina
GROUP G
AC Milan
Real Madrid
Ajax Amsterdam
Auxerre
GROUP H
Arsenal
Shakhtar Donetsk
Braga
Partizan Belgrade
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
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
