Nemanja Matic is part of the Serbia squad that failed to qualify for Euro 2016. Will Oliver / EPA
Nemanja Matic is part of the Serbia squad that failed to qualify for Euro 2016. Will Oliver / EPA

Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic threatens to quit Serbia over ‘unacceptable attitude’ of teammates



Serbia midfielder Nemanja Matic criticised his team mates and said he was on the verge of quitting the national team after Friday’s 4-1 drubbing by the Czech Republic in a friendly.

“I always try to lead by example but some people don’t want to see that,” the 27-year-old Chelsea midfielder said.

“The attitude of some players is unacceptable, not just on the pitch but off it too and it was obvious from the moment we got together on Monday.

“I told our coach (Radovan Curcic) there is no point in me carrying on with the national team if things don’t change.”

[Argentina 'have to win in Colombia' as World Cup campaign threatens to turn disastrous]

Serbia failed to qualify for Euro 2016 after an awful campaign, having also missed out on the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2012.

The national team’s managing director Savo Milosevic, a former Aston Villa striker, hinted that he and Curcic could pay the price for the barren spell.

“Reading between the lines of Curcic’s statements after the Czech game, one could see that he is on the brink of stepping down and I am in the same boat with him,” Milosevic said.

“I have asked for support and patience for the players in the past eight months but their lack of commitment is quite simply indefensible.”

[Preview: Stakes high in Scandinavia as Sweden and Denmark renew cross-border rivalry]

Matic cited Serbia’s futile 2-0 win at bitter Balkan rivals Albania in their penultimate Euro 2016 qualifier, when they had already lost any hope of reaching the tournament, as an example of how they should move forward.

“When our personal reputations were on the line we did everything right,” said Matic who has played 26 times for his country.

“But I’d really like to know whether some of my team mates apply the same poor working ethic at their clubs as they do in the national team most of the time.”

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Director:Shakun Batra

Stars:Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, Dhairya Karwa

Rating: 4/5

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WWE Evolution results
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Produced: Salman Khan Films and Tips Films
Director: Remo D’Souza
Cast: Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Bobby Deol, Daisy Shah, Saqib Salem
Rating: 2.5 stars

Match info

What: Fifa Club World Cup play-off
Who: Al Ain v Team Wellington
Where: Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
When: Wednesday, kick off 7.30pm

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
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
Getting there

The flights

Emirates and Etihad fly to Johannesburg or Cape Town daily. Flights cost from about Dh3,325, with a flying time of 8hours and 15 minutes. From there, fly South African Airlines or Air Namibia to Namibia’s Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport, for about Dh850. Flying time is 2 hours.

The stay

Wilderness Little Kulala offers stays from £460 (Dh2,135) per person, per night. It is one of seven Wilderness Safari lodges in Namibia; www.wilderness-safaris.com.

Skeleton Coast Safaris’ four-day adventure involves joining a very small group in a private plane, flying to some of the remotest areas in the world, with each night spent at a different camp. It costs from US$8,335.30 (Dh30,611); www.skeletoncoastsafaris.com

Company%20Profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Profile

Company name: Jaib

Started: January 2018

Co-founders: Fouad Jeryes and Sinan Taifour

Based: Jordan

Sector: FinTech

Total transactions: over $800,000 since January, 2018

Investors in Jaib's mother company Alpha Apps: Aramex and 500 Startups

Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

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First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus 

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Abramovich London

A Kensington Palace Gardens house with 15 bedrooms is valued at more than £150 million.

A three-storey penthouse at Chelsea Waterfront bought for £22 million.

Steel company Evraz drops more than 10 per cent in trading after UK officials said it was potentially supplying the Russian military.

Sale of Chelsea Football Club is now impossible.

Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier

ICC Academy, November 22-28

UAE fixtures
Nov 22, v Malaysia
Nov 23, v Hong Kong
Nov 25, v Bhutan
Nov 26, v Kuwait
Nov 28, v Nepal

ICC T20I rankings
14. Nepal
17. UAE
25. Hong Kong
34. Kuwait
35. Malaysia
44. Bhutan 

UAE squad
Chaya Mughal (captain), Natasha Cherriath, Samaira Dharnidharka, Kavisha Egodage, Mahika Gaur, Priyanjali Jain, Suraksha Kotte, Vaishnave Mahesh, Judit Peter, Esha Rohit, Theertha Satish, Chamani Seneviratne, Khushi Sharma, Subha Venkataraman

Company profile

Name: Dukkantek 

Started: January 2021 

Founders: Sanad Yaghi, Ali Al Sayegh and Shadi Joulani 

Based: UAE 

Number of employees: 140 

Sector: B2B Vertical SaaS(software as a service) 

Investment: $5.2 million 

Funding stage: Seed round 

Investors: Global Founders Capital, Colle Capital Partners, Wamda Capital, Plug and Play, Comma Capital, Nowais Capital, Annex Investments and AMK Investment Office  


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