Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka finds it almost impossible to believe he will be taking part in the world's most lucrative match when his side face Norwich City for a place in the Premier League on Monday.
When Karanka replaced Tony Mowbray at the Riverside Stadium in November 2013, Middlesbrough were languishing in the lower reaches of the second tier and facing a relegation battle.
The 41-year-old Spaniard, who worked as Jose Mourinho’s assistant at Real Madrid, was concerned about the size of the task facing him in a country and league he had never experienced before.
But, in his first managerial role, Karanka has proved a quick learner, transforming Middlesbrough’s fortunes so completely that they will return to the top-flight after a six-year absence if they win the play-off final against Norwich at Wembley.
“I think it’s amazing for everybody, especially for me,” said Karanka, who won the Champions League three times as a Real Madrid player.
“I came here 18 months ago and I couldn’t imagine at that time we would be playing at Wembley.
“We’re going there because the players have had an amazing season and have done an amazing job every single day.
“For this reason they deserve to be at Wembley.”
Promotion to the Premier League is worth an estimated £120 million (Dh682.8m) to Middlesbrough, while Norwich would stand to profit by around £80 million due to the loss of parachute payments in the Championship.
But for Karanka, the financial rewards on offer pale in comparison to the prospect of pitting his wits against the Premier League’s top managers, including Mourinho, who has been giving advice to his old friend and helped his promotion challenge by loaning Chelsea’s talented young striker Patrick Bamford.
However, despite beating Norwich twice this season, Middlesbrough finished one place below them and Karanka knows Alex Neil’s team pose a significant threat to his promotion dream.
“The main thing is not to celebrate, because we haven’t achieved anything at this moment,” he said.
“We need to know how beautiful this moment is for everybody.
“But again we have to play the final, because if we lose the game, on Tuesday everyone’s going to be upset.”
Karanka’s caution is understandable given Norwich, bidding for a quick return to the top-flight after last year’s relegation, have won 16 of their 24 games since Neil was hired from Scottish club Hamilton to replace the sacked Neil Adams.
The 33-year-old Scot guided Hamilton to the Scottish Premiership with a play-off success against Hibernian last season and he hopes the experience he gleaned from that victory can help Norwich achieve the same feat south of the border.
“I think it’s very similar,” Neil said. “How much it means to me, how much it meant to the set of players I had at Hamilton, the set of players I have at Norwich.
“Although the stakes are different, in terms of financially and things like that, ultimately the reward’s the same – getting promoted into the highest division in that country.
“It means a huge amount, as it did last year, and it’s something I’m really looking forward to.”
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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
The specs
Common to all models unless otherwise stated
Engine: 4-cylinder 2-litre T-GDi
0-100kph: 5.3 seconds (Elantra); 5.5 seconds (Kona); 6.1 seconds (Veloster)
Power: 276hp
Torque: 392Nm
Transmission: 6-Speed Manual/ 8-Speed Dual Clutch FWD
Price: TBC
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
