AC Milan are thirteenth in the table, 1-0 losers in the Milan derby on Sunday and site of a power struggle at boardroom level. Little has gone right for Mario Balotelli and the 2011 league champions this year. Antonio Calanni / AP Photo
AC Milan are thirteenth in the table, 1-0 losers in the Milan derby on Sunday and site of a power struggle at boardroom level. Little has gone right for Mario Balotelli and the 2011 league champions tShow more

Serie A: Roma are surprise challengers for Juventus while Napoli in the mix



Serie A will return with a bang on the first weekend of 2014, the calendar having conspired to pit first against second after the break.

Back in August, no special courage would have been needed to forecast that Juventus, the 2012 and 2013 champions, might be occupying the summit as the season neared its halfway point. But few would have imagined Roma emerging as their nearest challengers.

Those two clubs have lifted standards in the course of a campaign which has had its difficulties, on and off the field.

Italian football’s self-esteem is bruised by the fact only one of its members will participate in the last 16 of the Uefa Champions League, Juventus having fallen out at the group phase after, once again, failing to transmit their characteristic determination, resolve and energy from the domestic theatre into the international one. Napoli were unlucky, taking 12 points from a group including Arsenal and Dortmund but failing to advance via goal difference.

Napoli sit third in Serie A, going into the recess, and should expect to find greater consistency as coach Rafa Benitez and the five or six new recruits around which he builds his team refine their routines.

Bringing in a large batch of newcomers can be disruptive, although Roma presented a splendid counter-example for a heady two months, winning every game, at the outset of the season. A new coach, untried outside his native France, arrived and he, Rudi Garcia, put trust in several players also plucked from abroad.

Gervinho has been a joy to watch, revelling in the old-fashioned virtues of dribbling at speed at opponents. Kevin Strootman and Mehdi Benatia also have impressed.

Juve can be pleased with their summer recruits, too. Carlos Tevez, with his 11 goals, has filled the gap in Antonio Conte’s previous title-winning squads as a striker who could score 20 goals. Fernando Llorente is an option, too.

Inter Milan, under new ownership, remain a work in progress. AC Milan teeter alarmingly but have experience of dramatic spring recoveries and will see hope in the flashes of vintage form shown by the returning Kaka.

In the background, the “calcioscommesse” investigation into match-fixing continues, revealing an ever-broader culture of attempted corruption at a level of the game just beneath the elite.

Star of the season

Giuseppe Rossi. After the best part of two years out injured, Fiorentina’s gamble on the full recovery of the Italy striker has paid off superbly. With 14 goals, he leads the league’s scorers and is back in the national side.

Flop of the season

AC Milan. Thirteenth in the table, 1-0 losers in the Milan derby on Sunday and site of a power struggle at boardroom level, little has gone right for Mario Balotelli, right, and the 2011 league champions. But they do remain in the Champions League.

Surprise of the season

Gervinho. When Arsenal sold the enigmatic Ivorian to Roma for €9 million (Dh45.3m), Arsenal felt they had the better of the deal. No player has been as influential in guiding Roma, unbeaten, to second spot. Often, he has dazzled.

Game of the season

Juventus 2, Fiorentina 4. The champions led 2-0 until 25 minutes from full-time. Cue a Rossi hat-trick, crammed into 14 mad minutes, into which Joaquin Sanchez also squeezed a goal. Juve’s only league defeat so far.

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A MINECRAFT MOVIE

Director: Jared Hess

Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa

Rating: 3/5

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

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How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
  • The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
  • The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
  • The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
  • The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
  • The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
The Scale for Clinical Actionability of Molecular Targets
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Basquiat in Abu Dhabi

One of Basquiat’s paintings, the vibrant Cabra (1981–82), now hangs in Louvre Abu Dhabi temporarily, on loan from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. 

The latter museum is not open physically, but has assembled a collection and puts together a series of events called Talking Art, such as this discussion, moderated by writer Chaedria LaBouvier. 

It's something of a Basquiat season in Abu Dhabi at the moment. Last week, The Radiant Child, a documentary on Basquiat was shown at Manarat Al Saadiyat, and tonight (April 18) the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is throwing the re-creation of a party tonight, of the legendary Canal Zone party thrown in 1979, which epitomised the collaborative scene of the time. It was at Canal Zone that Basquiat met prominent members of the art world and moved from unknown graffiti artist into someone in the spotlight.  

“We’ve invited local resident arists, we’ll have spray cans at the ready,” says curator Maisa Al Qassemi of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. 

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi's Canal Zone Remix is at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Thursday April 18, from 8pm. Free entry to all. Basquiat's Cabra is on view at Louvre Abu Dhabi until October

Normcore explained

Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.

MATCH INFO

England 2
Cahill (3'), Kane (39')

Nigeria 1
Iwobi (47')

If you go

 

  • The nearest international airport to the start of the Chuysky Trakt is in Novosibirsk. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offer codeshare flights with S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) via Moscow for US$5,300 (Dh19,467) return including taxes. Cheaper flights are available on Flydubai and Air Astana or Aeroflot combination, flying via Astana in Kazakhstan or Moscow. Economy class tickets are available for US$650 (Dh2,400).
  • The Double Tree by Hilton in Novosibirsk ( 7 383 2230100,) has double rooms from US$60 (Dh220). You can rent cabins at camp grounds or rooms in guesthouses in the towns for around US$25 (Dh90).
  • The transport Minibuses run along the Chuysky Trakt but if you want to stop for sightseeing, hire a taxi from Gorno-Altaisk for about US$100 (Dh360) a day. Take a Russian phrasebook or download a translation app. Tour companies such as  Altair-Tour ( 7 383 2125115 ) offer hiking and adventure packages.

Director: Laxman Utekar

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna

Rating: 1/5

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4