Barcelona against Granada and Manchester City in League Cup – 5 sports events to watch in the UAE this week

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  Ben Stokes of England bats as Quinton de Kock of South Africa keeps wicket during day one of the 2nd Test at Newlands Stadium on January 2, 2016 in Cape Town, South Africa. Julian Finney/Getty Images

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  David Ferrer serves the ball to Swiss Stan Wawrinka during their match for 3rd place at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, on January 2, 2016. Marwan Naamani / AFP

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  Lionel Messiof Barcelona reacts asking a card to the referee Jose Luis Gonzalez Gonzalez at the end of the La Liga match against Espanyol on January 2, 2016 in Barcelona, Spain. David Ramos/Getty Images

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  Gary Stal of France pictured after winning the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship at Abu Dhabi Golf Club on January 18, 2015 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Matthew Lewis/Getty Images

With Rafael Nadal getting his 2016 off to a winning start by securing the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi on Saturday we take a look at five other sporting spectacles to look forward to over the next seven days.

1. English League Cup semi-finals, Tuesday and Wednesday, midnight kick offs, BeIN Sports

These matches, played over two legs, first pit Stoke City at home to Liverpool on Tuesday, while 2013/14 tournament winners Manchester City travel to Everton on Wednesday. Stoke and Liverpool both suffered Premier League defeats at the weekend, the League Cup presents an excellent opportunity for them to put one foot in the door of the Wembley final in next month’s final.

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2. Cricket, South Africa v England, second Test, until Wednesday, 12.15pm. Ten Cricket

England are in the driving seat in the four-match series after winning the first Test in Durban by 241 runs. The Proteas have won three of the past four Tests between the sides at Cape Town.

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3. Tennis, Qatar Open, until Saturday, BeIN Sports

The build-up to the Australian Open, which starts on January 18, begins this week, and Doha leads the action with Spaniard David Ferrer bidding to retain the title he won 12 months ago when he beat Tomas Berdych in the final in straight sets.

More tennis

Read more: With Mubadala title in hand, there here is no looking back at 2015 for Rafael Nadal

4. Spanish La Liga, Barcelona v Granada, Saturday, 7pm, BeIN Sports

The Spanish, European and Club World Cup champions were held to a 0-0 draw by neighbours Espanyol on Saturday. The attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez led Barca to five trophies in 2015, scoring 137 of their Spanish record 180 goals in all competitions, but they drew a blank against Espanyol. The stalemate allowed Atletico Madrid to usurp them at the top of La Liga and Luis Enrique will be looking for his charges to get back to winning ways against relegation strugglers Granada.

European club football half-time talk

5. Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, January 21-24

The sixth tournament on the 2016 European Tour season, but widely accepted as the first main stroke play event on the circuit’s calendar. It marks the beginning of the three-legged Desert Swing, with the Qatar Masters and the Dubai Desert Classic played in the succeeding two weeks. Has the biggest purse of the Middle East trio, at $2.7 million (Dh9.9m).

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