Barcelona midfielders Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Arda Turan are trying to shake off the flu in a bid to be fit for Wednesday’s Copa del Rey quarter-final second leg at home to Athletic Bilbao.
The trio will be included in the matchday squad if they have recovered in good time, coach Luis Enrique told a news conference on Tuesday.
“They have a fever. Tomorrow we’ll see how they are feeling,” said Enrique, who believes his side will be up against a determined Athletic side after their 2-1 home defeat in last week’s first leg.
“I don’t expect anything different (from them), in fact (they’ll be) more dangerous because the first leg result is no good to them With a win we avoid any complications.”
LA LIGA IN FOCUS: Valencia boast talent but lack of experienced players harming Gary Neville
Enrique would not be drawn on Saturday’s Primera Liga top-of-the-table clash with Atletico Madrid at the Nou Camp, saying the only match that concerned him was against Bilbao.
Barca are on a 24-match unbeaten run in all competitions, but Enrique is concerned about avoiding burnout in a side who have played 36 games this season.
“I’m concerned about the wear because we have played lots of matches and lots of minutes,” he said.
“But the team are in good shape, despite playing at high intensity. Of course, it’s this intensity that has us up there. It shows we are consistent.
“We are at a key stage in the season which puts you close to winning titles.”
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World by Michael Ignatieff
Harvard University Press
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
match info
Southampton 2 (Ings 32' & pen 89') Tottenham Hotspur 5 (Son 45', 47', 64', & 73', Kane 82')
Man of the match Son Heung-min (Tottenham)
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
