Rudi Garcia has been interviewed by Manchester United for the position of interim manager, The National can reveal. The French coach, 57, coached the Lyon team that knocked Manchester City out of the Champions League in 2020 and led Lille to their first trophy in 50 years in 2011, a league-and-cup double helped by bringing in 17-year-old Eden Hazard.
Garcia has a good record of doing well at clubs which aren’t. Lyon were 14th when he took charge before taking them to a French Cup final and Champions League semi-final, knocking out Juventus as well as City. He did this using young players, while helping develop Memphis Depay. Pep Guardiola was criticised for changing City’s tactics to play Lyon.
Roma were finishing between seventh and ninth before he took them to second in Serie A twice in a row behind a Juventus team who were unstoppable in Italy, winning manager of the year in that country. In Rome, where he replaced Luis Enrique, he was told the big-name stars would be a problem there, yet Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi became his best players.
Speaking French, English, Spanish and Italian helped him get close to a multi-national dressing room. Marseille were 15th and he took them up the table and into the Europa League final. He’s never managed in England but considers it to be the home of football.
Garcia spoke to United ahead of their 2-0 victory in Villarreal which saw the club progress to the knockout stages of the Champions League. Darren Fletcher and John Murtough, two football men, are charged with making a football decision. Ernesto Valverde, the former Athletic, Espanyol and Barcelona coach who won the league with the Catalans in 2018 and 2019, has also interviewed for the role. Valverde was dismissed by Barca in January 2020.
Michael Carrick took charge of the team in Villarreal and was serenaded by the travelling away supporters after the victory. He is usually a coach at the club and willing to do whatever is best for Manchester United.
United have been strongly linked with Paris Saint-Germain boss Mauricio Pochettino for the position of permanent manager, the Argentine having impressed in England where he led Tottenham to a Champions League final.
Villarreal v Man United ratings
Garcia’s teams play dynamic, attacking football. A three-time French manager of the year, Garcia is a fighter, a charismatic leader who knows how to make the best of his players – reaching top competition finals with squads nowhere near the best in Europe showed his talent. He’s good at developing young talents: Hazard, Lucas Digne and Gervinho at Lille, Alessandro Florenzi and Kostas Manolas at Roma, Camara in Marseille, Maxence Caqueret, Maxwell Cornet and Houssem Aouar at Lyon. His three central midfielders against City were aged 20, 21 and 22. Lyon’s inexperience told in the semi-final against Bayern Munich when they missed two one-on-one chances before going out to the eventual winners.
Garcia can be passionate and outspoken. He talks of freedom of expression, even if he is a victim of that from what journalists write. But following the attack on Charlie Hebdo in France, Garcia bought pencils and put them on the seats of the journalists before they arrived for their next press conference.
“Freedom of expression is important,” he said, “the liberty of expression is important.”
Laurent Blanc, another linked to the United role, was the favourite for the Lyon job when Garcia was interviewed for the position, yet Garcia showed his detailed knowledge of the squad and his plans for them which including promoting youth. Garcia got the job, but aware of the negativity around his appointment, Lyon’s president Jean-Michel Aulas faced the media with his new manager.
“I want to start with a quote from Winston Churchill,” he said, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist, which is us, sees opportunity in every difficulty.”
Manchester United might need the same approach now.
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
The biog
Name: Mohammed Imtiaz
From: Gujranwala, Pakistan
Arrived in the UAE: 1976
Favourite clothes to make: Suit
Cost of a hand-made suit: From Dh550
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
The biog
Full name: Aisha Abdulqader Saeed
Age: 34
Emirate: Dubai
Favourite quote: "No one has ever become poor by giving"
U19 World Cup in South Africa
Group A: India, Japan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka
Group B: Australia, England, Nigeria, West Indies
Group C: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Scotland, Zimbabwe
Group D: Afghanistan, Canada, South Africa, UAE
UAE fixtures
Saturday, January 18, v Canada
Wednesday, January 22, v Afghanistan
Saturday, January 25, v South Africa
UAE squad
Aryan Lakra (captain), Vriitya Aravind, Deshan Chethyia, Mohammed Farazuddin, Jonathan Figy, Osama Hassan, Karthik Meiyappan, Rishabh Mukherjee, Ali Naseer, Wasi Shah, Alishan Sharafu, Sanchit Sharma, Kai Smith, Akasha Tahir, Ansh Tandon
Summer special
OPINIONS ON PALESTINE & ISRAEL
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
Monster Hunter: World
Capcom
PlayStation 4, Xbox One
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
RIVER%20SPIRIT
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAuthor%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ELeila%20Aboulela%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Saqi%20Books%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPages%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20320%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAvailable%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Name: Brendalle Belaza
From: Crossing Rubber, Philippines
Arrived in the UAE: 2007
Favourite place in Abu Dhabi: NYUAD campus
Favourite photography style: Street photography
Favourite book: Harry Potter
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
Disturbing%20facts%20and%20figures
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Duminy's Test career in numbers
Tests 46; Runs 2,103; Best 166; Average 32.85; 100s 6; 50s 8; Wickets 42; Best 4-47
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20IPHONE%2015%20PRO%20MAX
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if you go
The flights
Emirates offer flights to Buenos Aires from Dubai, via Rio De Janeiro from around Dh6,300. emirates.com
Seeing the games
Tangol sell experiences across South America and generally have good access to tickets for most of the big teams in Buenos Aires: Boca Juniors, River Plate, and Independiente. Prices from Dh550 and include pick up and drop off from your hotel in the city. tangol.com
Staying there
Tangol will pick up tourists from any hotel in Buenos Aires, but after the intensity of the game, the Faena makes for tranquil, upmarket accommodation. Doubles from Dh1,110. faena.com
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying