“Pura vida,” declared Zinedine Zidane to a Spanish television reporter after his side’s victory over Liverpool in the Uefa Champions League final on Saturday. “Pure life” – a Spanish phrase reserved for the highest of the highs.
Zidane, 45, had watched the match on the sidelines in his suit, looking as classy as he did as a player, the man who made 681 appearances for Cannes, Bordeaux, Juventus and Real Madrid.
The managerial fuse is a short one at the Bernabeu, with an average change of one per year over the past three decades, yet Zidane’s calmness and refusal to be sucked into the daily battles help him roll with the punches.
The Frenchman counters Madrid’s cocksure arrogance by being the opposite. He is less emotional and confrontational than the younger Jose Mourinho was, the Portuguese being the man who invited him to work with Madrid’s first team in November 2010.
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Within seven months he was Madrid’s sporting director, one respected by Mourinho and – crucially – his players, for he was at his peak in his playing career the world’s best footballer.
Not being a top player always went against Mourinho with some Madrid players.
After a spell heading Madrid’s reserve team, Zidane was promoted as manager to replace Rafa Benitez in January 2016.
He has done that job for 28 months. In that time he has become the first manager to win three successive Champions Leagues and has not lost a single knock-out tie as Madrid manager. He has also won two Fifa Club World Cups, two European Super Cups and the 2017 Primera Liga title.
More silverware could be on the way soon. His side will meet neighbours Atletico Madrid in August’s European Super Cup in Tallinn and compete in December’s Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi. No manager has won so much in so little time.
Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona won two European Cups in three years between 2009-11, but Zidane has won three out of three.
His side are not venerated to the same degree as the Catalans, whose style was more entertaining and whose team contained a high number of youth team graduates.
Madrid were expensively assembled and they were largely a complete team when he took charge, but he has created a winning machine.
Madrid may ride their luck, but they always, always get the job done, always beat the fellow giants in their way. Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus and Bayern Munich were all eliminated before Saturday’s final tie against a Liverpool team who had thrilled in their run to Kiev. Cynical? Madrid only committed six fouls in the entire game.
Madrid may have finished third in the Primera Liga, a competition Zidane maintains is harder to win than any cup.
They finished 16 points behind Barcelona and much criticism flowed his way, but it melts away when he keeps winning the Champions League, the bigger, more glamorous, competition, the trophy Real Madrid want to win above all others.
Only three teams had previously won the competition three times in succession – Madrid in the 1950s when they won the first five European Cups, and then Ajax and Bayern Munich in the 70s. No team had been able to retain it between AC Milan in 1990 and Madrid in 2017.
Their side is packed full of vastly experienced winners. Cristiano Ronaldo has won the competition five times scoring 120 goals, 20 more than nearest rival Lionel Messi, who is three years younger than the Portuguese.
Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Karim Benzema, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Isco, Lucas Vazquez, Nacho Fernandez, Casemiro, Keylor Navas, Dani Carvajal, Marco Asensio, Raphael Varane and Gareth Bale are the core, though Bale was deeply disappointed not to start in Kiev.
While Bale’s time in Spain has been punctuated by injury, Madrid have won four Champions Leagues in five years since the Welshman arrived.
Madrid have now won the competition more times (13) than all English clubs put together. Plus all Italian and German clubs.
Zidane, who scored one of the great final goals in 2002 when Madrid won their ninth European Cup, was criticised at the start of this season for letting experienced players go and bringing in too callow replacements.
Ronaldo, Benzema , Marcelo and Ramos are all over 30, but the side is bubbling with young talent. Assensio is 22, Mateo Kovacic 25, Varane 25. Isco, Casemiro, Vasquez, Carvajal are all 26. Kroos, Nacho and Bale are still only 28.
Madrid will always look to strengthen. They have money and, after La decimotercera (Number 13), there are few players in football who would not be tempted to play, if the offer came in, for them and the deeply respected Zidane, the man who will stay around to try and keep Madrid at the top.
How to report a beggar
Abu Dhabi – Call 999 or 8002626 (Aman Service)
Dubai – Call 800243
Sharjah – Call 065632222
Ras Al Khaimah - Call 072053372
Ajman – Call 067401616
Umm Al Quwain – Call 999
Fujairah - Call 092051100 or 092224411
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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What is a Ponzi scheme?
A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.
'Young girls thinking of big ideas'
Words come easy for aspiring writer Afra Al Muhairb. The business side of books, on the other hand, is entirely foreign to the 16-year-old Emirati. So, she followed her father’s advice and enroled in the Abu Dhabi Education Council’s summer entrepreneurship course at Abu Dhabi University hoping to pick up a few new skills.
“Most of us have this dream of opening a business,” said Afra, referring to her peers are “young girls thinking of big ideas.”
In the three-week class, pupils are challenged to come up with a business and develop an operational and marketing plan to support their idea. But, the learning goes far beyond sales and branding, said teacher Sonia Elhaj.
“It’s not only about starting up a business, it’s all the meta skills that goes with it -- building self confidence, communication,” said Ms Elhaj. “It’s a way to coach them and to harness ideas and to allow them to be creative. They are really hungry to do this and be heard. They are so happy to be actually doing something, to be engaged in creating something new, not only sitting and listening and getting new information and new knowledge. Now they are applying that knowledge.”
Afra’s team decided to focus their business idea on a restaurant modelled after the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Each level would have a different international cuisine and all the meat would be halal. The pupils thought of this after discussing a common problem they face when travelling abroad.
“Sometimes we find the struggle of finding halal food, so we just eat fish and cheese, so it’s hard for us to spend 20 days with fish and cheese,” said Afra. “So we made this tower so every person who comes – from Africa, from America – they will find the right food to eat.”
rpennington@thenational.ae
Brief scores:
Scotland 371-5, 50 overs (C MacLeod 140 no, K Coetzer 58, G Munsey 55)
England 365 all out, 48.5 overs (J Bairstow 105, A Hales 52; M Watt 3-55)
Result: Scotland won by six runs
Ipaf in numbers
Established: 2008
Prize money: $50,000 (Dh183,650) for winners and $10,000 for those on the shortlist.
Winning novels: 13
Shortlisted novels: 66
Longlisted novels: 111
Total number of novels submitted: 1,780
Novels translated internationally: 66
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
MATCH INFO
Austria 2
Hinteregger (53'), Schopf (69')
Germany 1
Ozil (11')
Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
MATCH INFO
Syria v Australia
2018 World Cup qualifying: Asia fourth round play-off first leg
Venue: Hang Jebat Stadium, Malayisa
Kick-off: Thursday, 4.30pm (UAE)
Watch: beIN Sports HD
* Second leg in Australia on October 10