Paris Saint-Germain might have an unbeaten record so far this season but the French champions look like they are already beginning to feel the strain.
Neymar scored his 10th goal of the season to secure a 1-0 win over Brest in Ligue 1 on Saturday but PSG showed signs of fatigue and needed a second-half Gianluigi Donnarumma penalty save to cling on to victory.
It was a far cry from the flying start to the season that has included 5-0, 5-2, and 7-1 wins.
The victory over Brest did take PSG back to the top of the table, despite their least convincing performance of the season.
New manager Christophe Galtier will already be trying to keep his players fresh as the fixtures quickly mount up. The Brest game fell in between the 2-1 midweek Champions League win over Juventus and their next European assignment against Maccabi Haifa in Israel on Wednesday.
“It is always difficult to play on the back of a Champions League game. So much energy goes into these matches, physically as well as mentally,” Galtier told Amazon Prime.
“I wouldn't say we were trying to play within ourselves but there was maybe not the same desire to make the effort that we have seen so far this season.”
There is another issue that refuses to go away, with relations between Kylian Mbappe and Neymar still a cause for concern.
Reports suggest that the Brazilian is still unhappy with the way Mbappe has acted on and off the pitch, with tensions between the two came to fore earlier in the season.
Against Montpellier last month, Neymar insisted on taking the team's second penalty after Mbappe had missed the first. The Frenchman did not celebrate after Neymar converted the spot-kick.
Then against Juventus, Neymar appeared to be furious after Mbappe decided to take a shot rather than pass the ball for a tap-in during their Champions League clash. Galtier, though, insists the two maintain a good relationship.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Why seagrass matters
- Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
- Marine nursery: Crucial habitat for juvenile fish, crustations, and invertebrates
- Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
- Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Landfill in numbers
• Landfill gas is composed of 50 per cent methane
• Methane is 28 times more harmful than Co2 in terms of global warming
• 11 million total tonnes of waste are being generated annually in Abu Dhabi
• 18,000 tonnes per year of hazardous and medical waste is produced in Abu Dhabi emirate per year
• 20,000 litres of cooking oil produced in Abu Dhabi’s cafeterias and restaurants every day is thrown away
• 50 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s waste is from construction and demolition
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Barcelona 2
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Ronaldo (14'), Bale (72')
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