Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr were held to a goalless draw against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday in a pre-season friendly in Japan.
The Saudi Arabian side, preparing for the 2023/24 Saudi Pro League kick-off next month, fielded summer signings Marcelo Brozovic, Seko Fofana and Alex Telles at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, with the latter duo making their debut.
On Sunday, Telles became the latest new recruit at last season’s Pro League runners-up, joining the Riyadh club from Manchester United.
Meanwhile, Brazil international Neymar was an unused substitute for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), who were without Kylian Mbappe amid the star forward’s attempted push for a move from the French champions. There was a runout, however, for Mbappe’s 16-year-old brother Ethan, who was introduced just after the hour.
Ronaldo, the first true modern superstar addition to the Saudi top-flight when he signed for Nassr in December, was given 66 minutes, although he could not break the deadlock.
The Nassr captain, who scored 14 times in 16 league matches for the club last season, did force a fine save from PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma minutes before half-time.
At the other end, Nassr goalkeeper Nawaf Al Aqidi saved in the first half from Carlos Soler and Noha Lemina. Lemina was later put through on goal, but sent his shot into the side-netting. In the second half, PSG went closest through Ismael Gharbi, when the teenager’s effort was repelled once more by Al Aqidi.
Nassr will no doubt be the happier of the two teams, following a difficult pre-season thus far. The capital club have been beaten twice this month: a 5-0 defeat to Celta Vigo and a 4-1 loss last week to Benfica.
For PSG, new manager Luis Enrique handed starts to summer signings Milan Skriniar, Lucas Hernandez and Marco Asensio, while recent recruit Manuel Ugarte was brought on in the second half. Fellow signing Kang-In Lee was an unused substitute.
Arabian Gulf Cup FINAL
Al Nasr 2
(Negredo 1, Tozo 50)
Shabab Al Ahli 1
(Jaber 13)
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Scoreline
UAE 2-1 Saudi Arabia
UAE Mabkhout 21’, Khalil 59’
Saudi Al Abed (pen) 20’
Man of the match Ahmed Khalil (UAE)
ENGLAND%20SQUAD
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Victims%20of%20the%202018%20Parkland%20school%20shooting
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Profile
Company name: Jaib
Started: January 2018
Co-founders: Fouad Jeryes and Sinan Taifour
Based: Jordan
Sector: FinTech
Total transactions: over $800,000 since January, 2018
Investors in Jaib's mother company Alpha Apps: Aramex and 500 Startups
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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Pad Man
Dir: R Balki
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte
Three-and-a-half stars
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Don't get fined
The UAE FTA requires following to be kept:
- Records of all supplies and imports of goods and services
- All tax invoices and tax credit notes
- Alternative documents related to receiving goods or services
- All tax invoices and tax credit notes
- Alternative documents issued
- Records of goods and services that have been disposed of or used for matters not related to business
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.