Celtic’s rematch with Inter Milan ended in a memorable 3-3 draw in Glasgow in the first leg of the Europa League round of 32 on Thursday as Romelu Lukaku inspired Everton to a big win.
Lukaku scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 Everton victory against Swiss side Young Boys that leaves the Toffees with one foot in the last 16, but the Premier League’s other representatives in the competition still have work to do.
A late Mario Balotelli penalty gave Liverpool a 1-0 win against Turkish league leaders Besiktas at Anfield, while Tottenham Hotspur drew 1-1 with Fiorentina at White Hart Lane, meaning they must now score in the return in Florence next week.
Celtic will also be up against it in Italy but they have given themselves a chance after coming from 2-0 and then 3-2 down to hold Inter in a repeat of the 1967 European Cup final.
Members of the Celtic team, known as the Lisbon Lions, that won that game 2-1 to become the first British club to be crowned champions of Europe, were in attendance to watch a remarkable match played in wild winter conditions in Glasgow’s East End.
John Guidetti was the hero for Celtic on the night, coming off the bench to volley home a stoppage time equaliser against Roberto Mancini’s side.
Before that, Celtic’s evening had started in nightmare fashion, with Xherdan Shaqiri and Rodrigo Palacio putting Inter 2-0 up inside 13 minutes.
Stuart Armstrong, making his home debut for Celtic following his January move from Dundee United, got one back and then forced the 26th-minute own-goal by Hugo Campagnaro that restored parity.
However, Inter went back in front just before the break when Palacio pounced on an error by Celtic ‘keeper Craig Gordon to roll the ball home.
“We don’t get punished the way we did tonight in the domestic league, but we were also a little unlucky,” Celtic manager Ronny Deila told BT Sport.
“We have to do better defensively. They maybe scored from every chance they had.”
However, the Norwegian added: “I’m so proud of the boys. In the second half we controlled the game and had three or four chances and scored at the end. The atmosphere was fantastic. Without fans like that it wouldn’t be possible.”
Meanwhile, the Europa League again brought out the best in Everton as Lukaku became only the fourth player representing the blue half of Merseyside to score a hat-trick in Europe, following in the footsteps of Alan Ball, Andy Gray and Yakubu Aiyegbeni.
Seamus Coleman also scored, with Roberto Martinez’s side coming from behind after Guillaume Hoarau gave Young Boys an early lead at the Stade de Suisse.
The Toffees have won only one of their last nine Premier League games but they won their Europa League group in style in the autumn and they were impressive again on this occasion.
However, the one blotch on their evening’s work was the sending-off of defender John Stones for bringing down Hoarau in the box, although Hoarau blazed the resulting spot-kick over the bar.
Of Lukaku, who missed several chances to add to his tally late on, Martinez said: “He’s the complete striker, but he’s only 21 and people forget about that.
“We saw today he really makes a difference in front of goal and he’s someone who is going to have a really strong ending to the season.”
Liverpool won 8-0 the last time they entertained Besiktas in the Champions League in 2007, but on this occasion they needed Balotelli to score an 85th-minute penalty to win the game at Anfield and give them an advantage to take to Istanbul.
And Balotelli only scored after an apparent disagreement with Jordan Henderson, the captain on the night, and Daniel Sturridge over who would take the penalty.
Tottenham took the lead against Fiorentina as Roberto Soldado, starting instead of the in-form Harry Kane, volleyed in after just six minutes, but Jose Maria Basanta equalised before the interval.
Elsewhere, trophy holders Sevilla won 1-0 at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach in the first leg of their tie in Spain thanks to a Vicente Iborra goal.
In-form Bas Dost scored both goals as German Bundesliga high-fliers Wolfsburg beat Sporting Lisbon 2-0, and there were also wins for Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Napoli, Zenit St Petersburg, Club Brugge, Guingamp, Villarreal and Ajax.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
MATCH INFO
Quarter-finals
Saturday (all times UAE)
England v Australia, 11.15am
New Zealand v Ireland, 2.15pm
Sunday
Wales v France, 11.15am
Japan v South Africa, 2.15pm
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The bio
Studied up to grade 12 in Vatanappally, a village in India’s southern Thrissur district
Was a middle distance state athletics champion in school
Enjoys driving to Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah with family
His dream is to continue working as a social worker and help people
Has seven diaries in which he has jotted down notes about his work and money he earned
Keeps the diaries in his car to remember his journey in the Emirates
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Women & Power: A Manifesto
Mary Beard
Profile Books and London Review of Books
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
J%20Street%20Polling%20Results
%3Cp%3E97%25%20of%20Jewish-Americans%20are%20concerned%20about%20the%20rise%20in%20anti-Semitism%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E76%25%20of%20US%20Jewish%20voters%20believe%20Donald%20Trump%20and%20his%20allies%20in%20the%20Republican%20Party%20are%20responsible%20for%20a%20rise%20in%20anti-Semitism%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E74%25%20of%20American%20Jews%20agreed%20that%20%E2%80%9CTrump%20and%20the%20Maga%20movement%20are%20a%20threat%20to%20Jews%20in%20America%22%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
What is an FTO Designation?
FTO designations impose immigration restrictions on members of the organisation simply by virtue of their membership and triggers a criminal prohibition on knowingly providing material support or resources to the designated organisation as well as asset freezes.
It is a crime for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide “material support or resources” to or receive military-type training from or on behalf of a designated FTO.
Representatives and members of a designated FTO, if they are aliens, are inadmissible to and, in certain circumstances removable from, the United States.
Except as authorised by the Secretary of the Treasury, any US financial institution that becomes aware that it has possession of or control over funds in which an FTO or its agent has an interest must retain possession of or control over the funds and report the funds to the Treasury Department.
Source: US Department of State
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EHakbah%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENaif%20AbuSaida%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESaudi%20Arabia%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E22%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24200%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Epre-Series%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EGlobal%20Ventures%20and%20Aditum%20Investment%20Management%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The%20Woman%20King%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Gina%20Prince-Bythewood%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Viola%20Davis%2C%20Thuso%20Mbedu%2C%20Sheila%20Atim%2C%20Lashana%20Lynch%2C%20John%20Boyega%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Real Sociedad v Leganes (midnight)
Saturday
Alaves v Real Valladolid (4pm)
Valencia v Granada (7pm)
Eibar v Real Madrid (9.30pm)
Barcelona v Celta Vigo (midnight)
Sunday
Real Mallorca v Villarreal (3pm)
Athletic Bilbao v Levante (5pm)
Atletico Madrid v Espanyol (7pm)
Getafe v Osasuna (9.30pm)
Real Betis v Sevilla (midnight)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets