Barcelona’s players paraded through the streets and avenues of their city on Sunday on a familiar ride, with a regular passenger on their open-topped bus.
The European Cup will be 60 years old next year and the fact it has spent almost half of its sixth decade in the capital of Catalonia is a matter of great regional pride.
The immediate challenge for any European club winners is the tantalising one of whether they can we keep it for more than 12 months.
No holder of the Uefa Champions League, as the competition was rebranded in 1992, has ever retained it.
Barcelona, whose status as the most dominant club in the competition over the past decade was confirmed by their 3-1 win over Juventus in Saturday's Berlin final, will aspire to breaking that jinx.
They have other targets, too, one of them set by Gerard Pique, the defender who shone against Juventus and capped a fine season personally.
Pique was celebrating both a hat-trick of European Cups and nine months when his reputation as one of the finest players in his position in his sport was redeemed, a reputation that had been damaged through 2013 and 2014.
“We need to match the six trophies we won in one year under Pep Guardiola,” Pique urged his teammates.
In 2009, as in 2015, Barca won the treble of Primera Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League. They then picked up all the supplementary trophies: Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup and Club World Cup. Those three are the immediate new target.
Read more:
– Richard Jolly: Andres Iniesta and Luis Suarez continue to turn up on the big occasion as Barcelona’s success shows
– Photo gallery: A super Saturday night when Barca beat Juventus to lift the Uefa Champions League trophy
They will be invited to contest the first two in August, not long after Lionel Messi, Neymar and Javier Mascherano have completed their duties in the Copa America, which starts this week.
One hazard on the horizon is fatigue to key players and Barcelona’s coaching staff will be wary as they attempt to consolidate their place at the game’s summit.
By December, and their assault of the Club World Cup, they will have a clearer idea of how strong will be the competition for their main domestic title, notably from a Real Madrid under a new coach, Rafa Benitez.
Barca are also entering peculiar territory as an institution.
It is an assumption among modern super clubs that every pre-season needs to be a springboard, a time to raise standards, and no more so than when success has been achieved.
After winning the 2009 Champions League, Barcelona bought Zlatan Ibrahimovic for more than €60 million (Dh244.9m); after their 2011 triumph, they signed Alexis Sanchez.
This summer they can hire nobody from outside the club, because of a Fifa transfer ban, imposed because of irregularities in the club’s past recruitment of players under 18 and which expires only in 2016.
There were few sour notes struck in the aftermath of a glorious final in Berlin and high praise generously offered for both teams involved.
But there was no sign either of Dani Alves’s softening in his determination to reject the contract offer made to him by Barca.
He is a free agent now and apparently pleased to dictate his terms to several suitors.
Alves’s mastery of his advanced right-back role, his terrific on-field empathy with Lionel Messi, developed over seven years, would be hard for Barcelona to replace, even if they can bring in the excellent Sevilla right-sided player Aleix Vidal, as they are planning, once they can make transfers again, from January.
The future of Luis Enrique, the coach who in his first season with Barca overcame tactical confusions and some confrontations in the dressing room to win a treble, the first club to do so twice, is also clouded. He would not commit definitely to staying when he spoke in Berlin.
Some of his caution is based on the institutional concerns, such as the transfer embargo and this year’s presidential elections.
As Enrique accepted the applause of the city and its loyalists on Thursday, he had half a mind on what might be a tricky six months ahead at a club where the demands for success never ease and the politics can be perplexing.
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What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
UAE SQUAD
Khalid Essa, Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Adel Al Hosani, Bandar Al Ahbabi, Mohammad Barghash, Salem Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Hassan Al Mahrami, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamis, Yousef Jaber, Majed Sorour, Majed Hassan, Ali Salmeen, Abdullah Ramadan, Abdullah Al Naqbi, Khalil Al Hammadi, Fabio De Lima, Khalfan Mubarak, Tahnoon Al Zaabi, Ali Saleh, Caio Canedo, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue, Zayed Al Ameri
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
WHY%20AAYAN%20IS%20'PERFECT%20EXAMPLE'
%3Cp%3EDavid%20White%20might%20be%20new%20to%20the%20country%2C%20but%20he%20has%20clearly%20already%20built%20up%20an%20affinity%20with%20the%20place.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3EAfter%20the%20UAE%20shocked%20Pakistan%20in%20the%20semi-final%20of%20the%20Under%2019%20Asia%20Cup%20last%20month%2C%20White%20was%20hugged%20on%20the%20field%20by%20Aayan%20Khan%2C%20the%20team%E2%80%99s%20captain.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3EWhite%20suggests%20that%20was%20more%20a%20sign%20of%20Aayan%E2%80%99s%20amiability%20than%20anything%20else.%20But%20he%20believes%20the%20young%20all-rounder%2C%20who%20was%20part%20of%20the%20winning%20Gulf%20Giants%20team%20last%20year%2C%20is%20just%20the%20sort%20of%20player%20the%20country%20should%20be%20seeking%20to%20produce%20via%20the%20ILT20.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%9CHe%20is%20a%20delightful%20young%20man%2C%E2%80%9D%20White%20said.%20%E2%80%9CHe%20played%20in%20the%20competition%20last%20year%20at%2017%2C%20and%20look%20at%20his%20development%20from%20there%20till%20now%2C%20and%20where%20he%20is%20representing%20the%20UAE.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%9CHe%20was%20influential%20in%20the%20U19%20team%20which%20beat%20Pakistan.%20He%20is%20the%20perfect%20example%20of%20what%20we%20are%20all%20trying%20to%20achieve%20here.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%9CIt%20is%20about%20the%20development%20of%20players%20who%20are%20going%20to%20represent%20the%20UAE%20and%20go%20on%20to%20help%20make%20UAE%20a%20force%20in%20world%20cricket.%E2%80%9D%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Haircare resolutions 2021
From Beirut and Amman to London and now Dubai, hairstylist George Massoud has seen the same mistakes made by customers all over the world. In the chair or at-home hair care, here are the resolutions he wishes his customers would make for the year ahead.
1. 'I will seek consultation from professionals'
You may know what you want, but are you sure it’s going to suit you? Haircare professionals can tell you what will work best with your skin tone, hair texture and lifestyle.
2. 'I will tell my hairdresser when I’m not happy'
Massoud says it’s better to offer constructive criticism to work on in the future. Your hairdresser will learn, and you may discover how to communicate exactly what you want more effectively the next time.
3. ‘I will treat my hair better out of the chair’
Damage control is a big part of most hairstylists’ work right now, but it can be avoided. Steer clear of over-colouring at home, try and pursue one hair brand at a time and never, ever use a straightener on still drying hair, pleads Massoud.
