Manuel Jimenez, the Sevilla coach, suspected what was coming. At the turn of the year, the Sevilla legend who spent 14 seasons playing at the club before turning to coaching a decade ago, predicted that January was going to be tough.
"I just want to get through this month," he said. "It will be very difficult, but we can only do our best."
It was not what the fans wanted to hear, but his honesty was admirable. With the African Cup of Nations looming, Jimenez knew he would be faced with the absence of key players like the forward Freddie Kanoute and a trio of midfielders in Didier Zokora, Arouna Kone and Koffi Romaric - plus an injury to another striker Luis Fabiano, the club's leading scorer. Signs for optimism were few, but the fact that the Champions League, where Sevilla have a winnable tie against CSKA Moscow, resumes in February and not January was one.
Domestically, Sevilla duly lost to Atletico Madrid at the start of the year, but what happened next stunned Spanish football. Jimenez's side went to Camp Nou to play a Barca who had just celebrated becoming world champions. With a weakened eleven, they stunned the Catalans by winning 2-1 with a splendid performance in the Copa del Rey tie. Sevilla lost the return leg to an Andres Iniesta goal, but progressed to the last eight by virtue of their solitary away goal.
Still in the cup, the Andalusians then beat Deportivo La Coruna 3-0 and despite losing the second leg 1-0, sealed a place in the semi-finals midweek.
That is only part of the story. Including those cup defeats, Sevilla have lost five games in January. They only ended a run of four successive losses in the league with a narrow victory over plummeting Almeria last week which kept them in contention for the European places they seemed to be slipping further and further away from.
Sevilla had seemed secure in third for much of the season before their dip. Victory last week kept them in sixth, a point behind Deportivo and Mallorca above them, but six behind third place Valencia.
They can close that gap to three points tonight as Valencia visit the Sanchez Pizjuan, with Sevilla hoping to avenge a 2-0 opening day defeat. They face a difficult task as Valencia have been beaten just twice all season and boast the second best away record in Spain, after Barca, with seven wins and two draws from their 10 matches on the road. Confidence is high and was boosted further this week when David Villa dismissed more transfer speculation.
"Everyone can relax because I am happy at Valencia and prove this every day," said Villa, who trails Lionel Messi by one goal in the leading scorers' chart.
"This season has been extraordinary for Valencia and I am convinced we can finish in the top three. Valencia should be playing in the Champions League and with the stability we finally have at the club and the players here, we are going from strength to strength."
Not that Sevilla need to be reminded as they seek to end their worst month of the season on a positive note.
sports@thenational.ae
Sevilla v Valencia, midnight, Aljazeera Sport + 2
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Play-off fixtures
Two-legged ties to be played November 9-11 and November 12-14
- Northern Ireland v Switzerland
- Croatia v Greece
- Denmark v Ireland
- Sweden v Italy
Prophets of Rage
(Fantasy Records)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EQureos%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EUAE%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ELaunch%20year%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E33%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESoftware%20and%20technology%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%243%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
All or Nothing
Amazon Prime
Four stars
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Defined benefit and defined contribution schemes explained
Defined Benefit Plan (DB)
A defined benefit plan is where the benefit is defined by a formula, typically length of service to and salary at date of leaving.
Defined Contribution Plan (DC)
A defined contribution plan is where the benefit depends on the amount of money put into the plan for an employee, and how much investment return is earned on those contributions.
India cancels school-leaving examinations
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 BIO: Mohammed Ashiq Ali
Proudest achievement: “I came to a new country and started this shop”
Favourite TV programme: the news
Favourite place in Dubai: Al Fahidi. “They started the metro in 2009 and I didn’t take it yet.”
Family: six sons in Dubai and a daughter in Faisalabad
LAST 16 DRAW
Borussia Dortmund v PSG
Real Madrid v Manchester City
Atalanta v Valencia
Atletico Madrid v Liverpool
Chelsea v Bayern Munich
Lyon v Juventus
Tottenham v Leipzig
Napoli v Barcelona
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Company%20profile
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