MUNICH // Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney faces a race against time to be fit for Wednesday’s Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second-leg at Bayern Munich with the hosts winless in their last three matches.
European champions Bayern suffered their first Bundesliga defeat for 18 months when they were beaten 1-0 at Augsburg on Saturday following last Tuesday's 1-1 first-leg draw with United at Old Trafford.
Centre-back Nemanja Vidic’s header put United ahead in the first-leg at Old Trafford only for Bayern’s Bastian Schweinsteiger equaliser before being sent off for a second yellow card on the stroke of 90 minutes.
Pep Guardiola, the Bayern manager, has described Wednesday’s second-leg at the Allianz Arena as a matter of “life or death” for holders Munich, who have made no secret of their desire to become the first team to defend the Champions League title.
United's hopes hinge on Rooney, who missed Saturday's 4-0 league win at Newcastle United with a badly bruised toe and the 28-year-old's absence would be a big blow to United's chances of progressing.
Along with Robin van Persie, who is out with a knee injury, he is the club’s joint-top scorer this season with 17 goals, two of which were in the Champions League.
“If he’s out, it would certainly be a big loss for United,” admitted Bayern centre-back Jerome Boateng, whose job would be to contain the England star.
“Wayne Rooney is the key man for United, he always makes himself available and he goes looking for the ball, he’s always good for a goal.”
United trail English Premier League leaders Liverpool by 17 points, but David Moyes has the chance to redeem himself after a wretched first season in charge by beating Bayern.
“We always believe when you play for Manchester United; it is not because you win 4-0 against Newcastle that we start to believe we can win against Bayern,” insisted United star Patrice Evra, who missed the first leg through suspension.
The Red Devils will be without cup-tied Juan Mata, who scored twice and created a goal at Newcastle and Bayern’s Boateng fully expects United to come to Munich and defend.
“Just like in the first-leg, they’ll try and get at us on the counter-attack and at set plays,” Boateng said.
“We need just a little more pace, we need to get our crosses in a little quicker, and we should sometimes try our luck with shots from long range.”
United travel to Bavaria with the hosts needing a return to winning ways having struggled for form since securing the Bundesliga title two weeks ago with a record seven games to spare.
Guardiola will have to make a few more changes for the second-leg, especially in midfield with both Javi Martinez and Bastian Schweinsteiger suspended.
Attacking midfielders Thiago Alcantara and Xherdan Shaqiri are injured, but Guardiola still has plenty of options including Philipp Lahm, Arjen Robben, Toni Kroos, Mario Goetze and Franck Ribery.
Bayern only need a goalless draw to go through, but the holders want a convincing win after recent results.
“We’ve got to play to win. We’ll end up losing if we play for a goalless draw,” said Bayern’s Brazil centre-back Dante, who will return having been suspended for the first-leg.
“We’ve got to be aggressive going forward from the start and try to score.
“Manchester United will sit back again.
“They’ll take more risks the longer the game goes on.”
sports@thenational.ae
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window'
Director:Michael Lehmann
Stars:Kristen Bell
Rating: 1/5
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.
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
Yahya Al Ghassani's bio
Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
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
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
MATCH INFO
Qalandars 112-4 (10 ovs)
Banton 53 no
Northern Warriors 46 all out (9 ovs)
Kumara 3-10, Garton 3-10, Jordan 2-2, Prasanna 2-7
Qalandars win by six wickets
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
Saturday (UAE kick-off times)
Watford v Leicester City (3.30pm)
Brighton v Arsenal (6pm)
West Ham v Wolves (8.30pm)
Bournemouth v Crystal Palace (10.45pm)
Sunday
Newcastle United v Sheffield United (5pm)
Aston Villa v Chelsea (7.15pm)
Everton v Liverpool (10pm)
Monday
Manchester City v Burnley (11pm)
if you go
