Barcelona forward Neymar can hardly wait to play in his first ever Champions League final on Saturday.
Neymar has followed in a rich tradition of Brazilian players to wear the Barca jersey but not all of them have lifted the Champions League trophy while at the club.
“To play in the final is a dream that I’ve had as a boy and I’m very close to it,” Neymar said to Spanish TV station TVE in the build-up to the match against Juventus in Berlin.
“We hope we play a great game and we win.”
The La Liga champions last won the competition in 2011 and were eliminated last season by Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals in Neymar’s first year at the club.
Neymar has scored nine goals in the Champions League this season, one less than teammate Lionel Messi, who is the tournament’s leading scorer.
The 23-year-old forms a star-studded attacking trio alongside Messi and Luis Suarez that has combined for 120 goals in all competitions.
“To play with Messi and Luis Suarez is a pleasure,” the Brazil international said. “It’s an honour to play with two football giants as they are.”
Barca, under first-year coach Luis Enrique, have enjoyed a hugely successful campaign already.
They won the Spanish title and claimed a record 27th Copa del Rey trophy – Neymar’s first with the team since arriving two years ago.
Juve, who eliminated Barca’s arch-rivals Real Madrid in the semi-finals of Europe’s elite club competition, have also enjoyed a successful season under coach Massimiliano Allegri in his first year at the club.
The Italian champions won the domestic double for the first time since the 1994/95 campaign.
Juventus lost just three of their 38 Serie A games overall and finished 17 points clear of nearest rivals AS Roma.
Beating them will be no easy task, according to Neymar.
“Juve are a dangerous side at the back, in the middle and up front,” he said. “It’s no fluke that they are in the final.”
Barca are the only Spanish club to have won a La Liga, Champions League and Copa del Rey treble, having done so under Pep Guardiola in the 2008/09 campaign.
Victory on Saturday would see Barca repeat that feat and hand Neymar his first treble.
“We have the chance to win and I will do my all to win the title,” he said. “The team is happy.
“There’s a good atmosphere.”
Barcelona can welcome back midfielder Andres Iniesta, who is expected to start.
Iniesta, who missed his team’s training sessions this week after sustaining a calf injury in last weekend’s Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao, returned to training on Thursday.
Saturday’s game will be Barca captain Xavi’s last appearance for the club.
The 35-year-old midfielder will join Qatari side Al Sadd this summer.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE
Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”
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
The specs: Hyundai Ionic Hybrid
Price, base: Dh117,000 (estimate)
Engine: 1.6L four-cylinder, with 1.56kWh battery
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power: 105hp (engine), plus 43.5hp (battery)
Torque: 147Nm (engine), plus 170Nm (battery)
Fuel economy, combined: 3.4L / 100km
The Gandhi Murder
- 71 - Years since the death of MK Gandhi, also christened India's Father of the Nation
- 34 - Nationalities featured in the film The Gandhi Murder
- 7 - million dollars, the film's budget
Top goalscorers in Europe
34 goals - Robert Lewandowski (68 points)
34 - Ciro Immobile (68)
31 - Cristiano Ronaldo (62)
28 - Timo Werner (56)
25 - Lionel Messi (50)
*29 - Erling Haaland (50)
23 - Romelu Lukaku (46)
23 - Jamie Vardy (46)
*NOTE: Haaland's goals for Salzburg count for 1.5 points per goal. Goals for Dortmund count for two points per goal.
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
Dates for the diary
To mark Bodytree’s 10th anniversary, the coming season will be filled with celebratory activities:
- September 21 Anyone interested in becoming a certified yoga instructor can sign up for a 250-hour course in Yoga Teacher Training with Jacquelene Sadek. It begins on September 21 and will take place over the course of six weekends.
- October 18 to 21 International yoga instructor, Yogi Nora, will be visiting Bodytree and offering classes.
- October 26 to November 4 International pilates instructor Courtney Miller will be on hand at the studio, offering classes.
- November 9 Bodytree is hosting a party to celebrate turning 10, and everyone is invited. Expect a day full of free classes on the grounds of the studio.
- December 11 Yogeswari, an advanced certified Jivamukti teacher, will be visiting the studio.
- February 2, 2018 Bodytree will host its 4th annual yoga market.
