Al Ain were drawn on Wednesday against Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia in the Asian Champions League quarter-finals, in a match that will see the sides replay the 2005 final.
Al Ain are in the quarter-finals for the first time since 2006, and while Al Ittihad won successive titles in 2004-05, they have found a third continental championship elusive since, losing the 2009 final and bowing out in the semi-finals in 2011 and 2012. The sides’ quarter-finals meeting will be their first in the competition since the 2005 final.
In the other West Asia pairing, Al Sadd, who won the tournament in 2011, were drawn against another Saudi club, Al Hilal.
In the East, Marcello Lippi’s Guangzhou Evergrande were drawn against Australian newcomers Western Sydney Wanderers as they bid to become only the second team, after Al Ittihad, to retain the trophy.
The Chinese champions received what appeared a kindly draw against Wanderers, who have been the tournament’s surprise package in their run to the last eight on debut.
The other eastern zone tie, drawn at a ceremony in Kuala Lumpur, pitches last year’s runners-up FC Seoul into a daunting derby clash against Korean double winners Pohang Steelers when the competition resumes in August.
In 2005 Al Ain were defeated 5-3 on aggregate. They won the 2003 final – the first of the AFC Champions League era after it was rebranded from the Asian Club Championship – 2-1 on aggregate over Thailand’s BEC Tero Sasana. The Garden City club are still the only UAE side to have reached Asia’s most elite final.
Al Ain finished a disappointing sixth in the Arabian Gulf League this season, but after the sacking of Quique Sanchez Flores and appointment of Zlatko Dalic as manager, they’ve surged in the Asian Champions League and won the UAE President’s Cup.
They dispatched UAE rivals Al Jazira in the round of 16, winning 4-2 on aggregate as World Cup-bound Ghana captain Asamoah Gyan broke a 2-2 draw with a second-half double in the second leg. His 10 goals altogether lead the tournament so far.
Holders Guangzhou, After hitting form in their 5-1 away victory over Japan’s Cerezo Osaka in the last 16, face an intriguing challenge from Wanderers, who were formed just two years ago.
Coached by former Socceroo Tony Popovic, they topped their group and recovered from a 3-1 first-leg deficit against Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the last 16 to become only the second Australian club after Adelaide United to reach the quarter-finals.
Korean sides have appeared in the last five AFC Champions League finals and one is assured of reaching the semis this year after Seoul were drawn against Pohang.
But while Seoul contested the last final, it is Pohang who are the team in form. The 2009 Asian champions lead the K-League Classic table and they beat Seoul, who are currently ninth, 1-0 in April.
The west and east regions are kept apart until the final, meaning Al Ain, should they win, will face either Al Hilal or Al Sadd in the semis while Guangzhou or Western Sydney will meet Seoul or Pohang in the east.
The final will be played over two legs on October 25 and November 1, with the second leg to be hosted by the western team.
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BACK TO ALEXANDRIA
Director: Tamer Ruggli
Starring: Nadine Labaki, Fanny Ardant
Rating: 3.5/5
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Tips for travelling while needing dialysis
- Inform your doctor about your plans.
- Ask about your treatment so you know how it works.
- Pay attention to your health if you travel to a hot destination.
- Plan your trip well.
Confirmed bouts (more to be added)
Cory Sandhagen v Umar Nurmagomedov
Nick Diaz v Vicente Luque
Michael Chiesa v Tony Ferguson
Deiveson Figueiredo v Marlon Vera
Mackenzie Dern v Loopy Godinez
Tickets for the August 3 Fight Night, held in partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi, went on sale earlier this month, through www.etihadarena.ae and www.ticketmaster.ae.
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Revibe
Started: 2022
Founders: Hamza Iraqui and Abdessamad Ben Zakour
Based: UAE
Industry: Refurbished electronics
Funds raised so far: $10m
Investors: Flat6Labs, Resonance and various others
How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Croatia v Hungary, Thursday, 10.45pm, UAE
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
SWEET TOOTH
Created by: Jim Mickle, Beth Schwartz
Stars: Nonso Anozie, Christian Convery, Adeel Akhtar, Stefania LaVie Owen
Rating: 3.5/5
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Angela Bassett, Tina Fey
Directed by: Pete Doctor
Rating: 4 stars
A cryptocurrency primer for beginners
Cryptocurrency Investing for Dummies+– by Kiana Danial
There are several primers for investing in cryptocurrencies available online, including e-books written by people whose credentials fall apart on the second page of your preferred search engine.
Ms Danial is a finance coach and former currency analyst who writes for Nasdaq. Her broad-strokes primer+(2019) breaks down investing in cryptocurrency into baby steps, while explaining the terms and technologies involved.
Although cryptocurrencies are a fast evolving world, this book offers a good insight into the game as well as providing some basic tips, strategies and warning signs.
Begin your cryptocurrency journey here.
Available at Magrudy’s , Dh104
COMPANY PROFILE
Founder: Hani Abu Ghazaleh
Based: Abu Dhabi, with an office in Montreal
Founded: 2018
Sector: Virtual Reality
Investment raised: $1.2 million, and nearing close of $5 million new funding round
Number of employees: 12
SPEC SHEET: SAMSUNG GALAXY Z FLIP 4
Display: Main – 6.7" FHD Dynamic Amoled 2X, 2640 x 1080, 22:9, 425ppi, HDR10+, up to 120Hz; cover – 1.9" Super Amoled, 512 x 260, 302ppi
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, 4nm, octa-core; Adreno 730 GPU
Memory: 8GB
Capacity: 128/256/512GB
Platform: Android 12, One UI 4.1.1
Main camera: Dual 12MP ultra-wide (f/2.2) + 12MP wide (f/1.8), OIS, portrait, super slo-mo, hyperlapse
Video: 4K@30/60fps, full-HD@30/60fps, HD@30fps; slo-mo@240/960fps; HDR10+
Front camera: 10MP (f/2.4)
Battery: 3700mAh, 25W fast charging, 15W wireless charging, reverse wireless charging, 'all-day' life
Connectivity: 5G; Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC (Samsung Pay)
I/O: USB-C
Cards: Nano-SIM + eSIM; no microSD slot
Colours: Bora purple, graphite, pink gold, blue; Bespoke Edition in select countries
In the box: Flip 4, USB-C-to-USB-C cable
Price: Dh3,799 / Dh3,999 / Dh4,449
Soldier F
“I was in complete disgust at the fact that only one person was to be charged for Bloody Sunday.
“Somebody later said to me, 'you just watch - they'll drop the charge against him'. And sure enough, the charges against Soldier F would go on to be dropped.
“It's pretty hard to think that 50 years on, the State is still covering up for what happened on Bloody Sunday.”
Jimmy Duddy, nephew of John Johnson
Karwaan
Producer: Ronnie Screwvala
Director: Akarsh Khurana
Starring: Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar
Rating: 4/5
How to avoid getting scammed
- Never click on links provided via app or SMS, even if they seem to come from authorised senders at first glance
- Always double-check the authenticity of websites
- Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for all your working and personal services
- Only use official links published by the respective entity
- Double-check the web addresses to reduce exposure to fake sites created with domain names containing spelling errors
