MANCHESTER // Roberto Mancini said Manchester City will enjoy the cup final they have craved all season when they face Tottenham on Wednesday.
There will be no trophy at stake, but the prize of a place in the Champions League should more than make up for it.
After ending the top four hopes of Aston Villa yesterday, City want to do the same to Spurs, who are one point ahead with two games left.
"It's a final. We wanted one final this year and now we have it," said Mancini. "It will be another difficult game, Tottenham are as strong as Aston Villa. It's a big game, maybe the most important in the last year and we want to win."
City will need the same character they showed against Villa. A goal behind to John Carew's 16th-minute opener, they did not wilt under the pressure.
Their fortunes changed two minutes before the break when, first, Adam Johnson was tripped by Stephen Warnock as he swept past him in the penalty area.
The Villa left-back had escaped one penalty appeal when a fierce drive from Carlos Tevez struck his arm. This time there was no doubt. Tevez stepped up and his low finish crept under the dive of Brad Friedel for his 29th goal of the campaign.
Villa went immediately on to the attack and Carew struck the bar. Seconds later City went ahead.
Patrick Vieira, in commanding form reminiscent of his pomp at Arsenal, found Johnson in the box who, cleverly, he back-heeled the ball to create space and waited patiently to pick out Emmanuel Adebayor, who squeezed his shot into the net.
Mancini praised the providers. "Patrick played a fantastic game," he said. "For him, he deserved this. Adam Johnson is young, but next year he will be an important player for us and for the national team probably.
"But I want to say thank you to all the players. They continue to play football and this is important."
Mancini again played down the suggestion that missing out on the Champions League would mean the end for him at the Eastlands helm. "It's not important for me, it's important the squad win the next game and get the fourth position," he said. "I do this job because I enjoy being a manager and enjoy football."
Martin O'Neill, the Villa manager, was also coy about his own future.
He confirmed he will have talks with Randy Lerner, the chairman, before next week's final game of the season.
"I will sit down with him and discuss all aspects about the season. If it's like he was telling me a couple of weeks ago, he's been immensely proud of the team."
So too was O'Neill, but just disappointed Villa did not build on their great start when Carew blasted under the body of Marton Fulop.
Picking the ball out of the net was not the first impression the debutant keeper wanted to make after signing on an emergency loan deal from Sunderland. Fulop was anxious and relieved to see 20-yard drives from Stewart Downing and James Milner fly inches wide.
Mancini admitted: "For Fulop it was difficult. He was so nervous in the first half, but in the second half he was very, very good. I hope the next game it will be quiet."
At the other end, Friedel made a good save from Craig Bellamy's curling effort. But the American could do nothing about the 89th-minute strike that settled a tense encounter.
Fulop started the move with a long throw to Shaun Wright-Phillips on the left. He left Carlos Cuellar in his wake before feeding Bellamy for a cool finish.
It set City up for Spurs, but left Villa deflated. O'Neill said they will look to follow the example of Manchester United.
"You take great delight in winning championships and then putting it aside and the season starts and you go again the next year. That has to be the attitude we follow," he added. "You have to have that desire to go back again."
akhan@thenational.ae
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
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Torque: 1075Nm
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Director: Romany Saad
Starring: Mirfat Amin, Boumi Fouad and Tariq Al Ibyari
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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
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Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
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Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
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Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
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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
If you go
Flying
Despite the extreme distance, flying to Fairbanks is relatively simple, requiring just one transfer in Seattle, which can be reached directly from Dubai with Emirates for Dh6,800 return.
Touring
Gondwana Ecotours’ seven-day Polar Bear Adventure starts in Fairbanks in central Alaska before visiting Kaktovik and Utqiarvik on the North Slope. Polar bear viewing is highly likely in Kaktovik, with up to five two-hour boat tours included. Prices start from Dh11,500 per person, with all local flights, meals and accommodation included; gondwanaecotours.com
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
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
