Inter Milan's new defensive signing from Bayern Munich Lucio, left, challenges Lazio's Mauro Zarate, bottom, during the Rome side's 2-1 Italian Super Cup victory at the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing yesterday.
Inter Milan's new defensive signing from Bayern Munich Lucio, left, challenges Lazio's Mauro Zarate, bottom, during the Rome side's 2-1 Italian Super Cup victory at the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing Show more

Italy's great ball in China



BEIJING // Back in the days when Real Madrid talked themselves up as the most glamorous, most watchable football team in the world, they toured the People's Republic of China. David Beckham, then the most visible sportsman on earth, made his Real debut in Beijing. Crowds held an overnight vigil outside the squad's hotel near Tiananmen Square, and in the surreal East-meets-West atmosphere, one small detail stuck out. Few of the curious Chinese exhibited their partisanship with replica shirts, but among those who did wear the colours of a major foreign team, the blue and black stripes of Italy's Inter Milan made up a small majority.

Yesterday, six years after the Real of the Galacticos toured China to introduce Beckham as a teammate of Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and Brazil's Ronaldo, Inter reminded the Chinese, the Italians and others around the world that Serie A has a huge cachet in the world's most popular country. Italian football has been broadcast into Chinese homes longer than its rivals in the Spanish Primera Liga or the English Premier League. And yesterday, a Chinese audience saw something other than a pre-season friendly involving the stars from afar.

The Bird's Nest, the spectacular arena which a year earlier had opened the 2008 Olympic Games, hosted the Italian Super Cup, curtain raiser to the Serie A season, between the champions, Inter and the holders of the Coppa Italia, Lazio. The crowds in China know the difference between a competitive match and a friendly. The 80,000 tickets had sold out several weeks ago. Lazio surprised the Italian champions and won the game 2-1, thanks to second-half goals from Matuzalem and Tommaso Rocchi. New arrival Samuel Eto'o pulled one back for Inter nine minutes from time.

Admittedly, Beijing is a peculiar place to kick off the Italian domestic campaign, but in the global age, no more odd than Tripoli, the capital of Libya, or New York, USA. The Italian Super Cup has travelled to both venues since the turn of the millennium, evidence that Italy has always been pragmatic about trying to sustain its international prestige and chase the foreign dollar, dinar or yuan. China is something of an obsession among Europe's superclubs and those who aspire to join their clique. Manchester United toured there last month; Chelsea were there a year ago. Real, now building a second Galactico epoch, are planning a trip next summer, and behind the promotional visits, an aggressive battle is being fought by the holders of television rights to the major leagues.

Italy may have some of the most loyal Chinese followers, brought up watching the Serie A of the illuminated 1990s. But the Premier League has an appeal, too, which is bound to swell now that free-to-air broadcasting of English matches will replace the minority, subscription coverage that Chinese fans had to cope with over the last two years. The Real president, Florentino Perez, is, meanwhile, hatching a radical plan to alter fixture times in La Liga to better accommodate TV audiences in the Far East. Afternoon kick offs in a European time zone, like those of English football and most Sunday Serie A matches, better suit the Chinese viewer. Matches starting as late as 10pm in Spain require an unsociably early rise for the enthusiast in Shanghai or Beijing.

So Inter and Lazio were putting down a marker in the Bird's Nest yesterday. Jose Mourinho had played his part as the photogenic, charismatic marshall of Serie A, a man who likes to regard himself, a bit like the flag of China, as one big star surrounded by a group of lesser ones. Mourinho's Inter have lost the biggest playing star of the coach's first season in charge, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but Mourinho, a fortnight ahead of his opening league match, looks happy with the silver lining of the deal that took Ibrahimovic to Barcelona: the arrival of Eto'o.

Inter also have another talented new centre-forward in Diego Milito, a feisty addition to midfield in Thiago Motta, and a manager still with plenty to say for himself, and plenty still to achieve in the land of the world champions, and in a football culture with a big following all over the world. ihawkey@thenational.ae

MATCH INFO

Liverpool 3

Sadio Man 28'

Andrew Robertson 34'

Diogo Jota 88'

Arsenal 1

Lacazette 25'

Man of the match

Sadio Mane (Liverpool)

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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Company%20Profile
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Libya's Gold

UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves. 

The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.

Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.

COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

How to come clean about financial infidelity
  • Be honest and transparent: It is always better to own up than be found out. Tell your partner everything they want to know. Show remorse. Inform them of the extent of the situation so they know what they are dealing with.
  • Work on yourself: Be honest with yourself and your partner and figure out why you did it. Don’t be ashamed to ask for professional help. 
  • Give it time: Like any breach of trust, it requires time to rebuild. So be consistent, communicate often and be patient with your partner and yourself.
  • Discuss your financial situation regularly: Ensure your spouse is involved in financial matters and decisions. Your ability to consistently follow through with what you say you are going to do when it comes to money can make all the difference in your partner’s willingness to trust you again.
  • Work on a plan to resolve the problem together: If there is a lot of debt, for example, create a budget and financial plan together and ensure your partner is fully informed, involved and supported. 

Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching

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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Final scores

18 under: Tyrrell Hatton (ENG)

- 14: Jason Scrivener (AUS)

-13: Rory McIlroy (NIR)

-12: Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP)

-11: David Lipsky (USA), Marc Warren (SCO)

-10: Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Chris Paisley (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR)

The specs

Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors

Power: 480kW

Torque: 850Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)

On sale: Now

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

Joker: Folie a Deux

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson

Director: Todd Phillips 

Rating: 2/5

Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

LIVING IN...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut

Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”

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
Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

Rating: 4/5

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
Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5
Company%20Profile
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Stats at a glance:

Cost: 1.05 billion pounds (Dh 4.8 billion)

Number in service: 6

Complement 191 (space for up to 285)

Top speed: over 32 knots

Range: Over 7,000 nautical miles

Length 152.4 m

Displacement: 8,700 tonnes

Beam:   21.2 m

Draught: 7.4 m

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The biog

First Job: Abu Dhabi Department of Petroleum in 1974  
Current role: Chairperson of Al Maskari Holding since 2008
Career high: Regularly cited on Forbes list of 100 most powerful Arab Businesswomen
Achievement: Helped establish Al Maskari Medical Centre in 1969 in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region
Future plan: Will now concentrate on her charitable work

Key fixtures from January 5-7

Watford v Bristol City

Liverpool v Everton

Brighton v Crystal Palace

Bournemouth v AFC Fylde or Wigan

Coventry v Stoke City

Nottingham Forest v Arsenal

Manchester United v Derby

Forest Green or Exeter v West Brom

Tottenham v AFC Wimbledon

Fleetwood or Hereford v Leicester City

Manchester City v Burnley

Shrewsbury v West Ham United

Wolves v Swansea City

Newcastle United v Luton Town

Fulham v Southampton

Norwich City v Chelsea

A%20QUIET%20PLACE
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ETFs explained

Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.

ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.

There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.


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