Listen out, wherever the sounds and images from Real Madrid against Paris Saint-Germain reach you, for the noise that greets the most expensive footballer in the game’s history, and for the man who held that distinction before him.
For this, the glamour fixture of the Champions League group phase, the Bernabeu is braced for some industrial-scale booing.
On Saturday, at the home of the European Cup’s most decorated club, Gareth Bale, four-times Champions League winner with Madrid, came onto the field as a 67th-minute substitute. His entrance provoked whistling shrill enough to be heard a long way up and down the Paseo de la Castellana.
Bale’s perceived offences against his employers have accumulated over many months, but his recent declaration he feels happier playing for his country, Wales, than for his club provoked this episode of amplified rancour.
A night earlier, in Paris, Neymar was substituted after 65 minutes of a patchy performance, his first in six weeks, post-injury, against Lille. He left the pitch to jeers from sections of the Parc des Princes and, rather than taking a seat on the bench, strode directly to the dressing-room. It was not Lille supporters who had booed him to the tunnel.
Neymar’s offence? Somewhat like Bale’s. PSG fans have endured too many signs the 27-year-old’s loyalty to the French club who invested more than €220m (Dh889m) is exhausted.
During a summer spent pushing urgently for a transfer back to Barcelona, where he spent four seasons until 2017, Neymar said publicly his best-ever match was when he was on the winning side for Barca as they beat PSG 6-1.
It was a statement as undiplomatic as Bale chanting, with Wales team-mates last week, “Wales, Golf, Madrid,” behind a banner that listed those three things as his priorities “in that order.”
Sometimes footballers exposed to regular catcalling in their own stadiums develop a preference for away fixtures. Not so Neymar at the Bernabeu, where his past guarantees a Bale-scale booing.
Not many among the 70,000 there on Tuesday can ever put aside the Brazilian’s association with Barcelona, for whom he scored three times in nine Spanish ‘clasicos’, nor that in the years preceding his arrival at Barca he had been earmarked as a future Madrid man.
Real thought they had a deal with Neymar when he was a teenager, a precocious Santos starlet with a highly streamlined marketing operation around him. Medical assessments had been made, contracts readied, the full ‘Galactico’ hype ready to roll.
Then Barca gazumped the deal. Madrid, wounded, turned instead to Bale, a €100m-plus recruit from Tottenham Hotspur and were never happier about how things had worked out than the moment in the 2014 Spanish Cup final when Bale scored an astonishing virtuoso goal to defeat Neymar’s Barcelona.
That highlight, along with the sensational overhead volley in Kiev that sealed Bale’s third Champions League title, were obliquely referenced by Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane ahead of PSG’s visit.
“Gareth Bale has given a lot to this club,” said Zidane. “There’s a lot of noise around him, too much. Everyone is entitled to their opinions but we need our fans to be with us.”
Not too long ago, Zidane was contributing his own percussive beats to that ‘noise’. In July he publicly told Bale, 30, he should leave the club. Among potential buyers Madrid sounded out were PSG. At around the same time, Neymar’s associates were letting it be known he might be wanted at Madrid again.
Most madridistas preparing to boo and whistle Neymar on Tuesday recognise those stories for exactly what they were: a device to scare Barcelona into stepping up their efforts to drag Neymar back to Camp Nou, or risk him ending up at their fiercest rivals.
The home-ground derision for Bale and Neymar is partly a residue of those summer sagas, of Neymar the wantaway, Bale the stubborn, unloved stayer. It is a fortnightly challenge for the players and for their coaches. Zidane, who tried to usher Bale way four months ago, has picked him in his starting XI more often than not when Bale has been available this season.
PSG’s Thomas Tuchel acknowledged there were fences to be mended with Neymar, but remains clear that his superstar, focussed, offers a team with a dazzling range of attacking talents something unique.
Tuchel has a dilemma, though. PSG’s overwhelming need for Neymar is not as pronounced as it used to be. The superb form of Angel Di Maria – an ex-Madrid player – and Mauro Icardi makes picking them almost obligatory. Kylian Mbappe, meanwhile, is recovered from illness and available. Tuchel’s headache is over whether to let Neymar be jeered from kick-off, or save his booming Bernabeu booing for later.
The chef's advice
Troy Payne, head chef at Abu Dhabi’s newest healthy eatery Sanderson’s in Al Seef Resort & Spa, says singles need to change their mindset about how they approach the supermarket.
“They feel like they can’t buy one cucumber,” he says. “But I can walk into a shop – I feed two people at home – and I’ll walk into a shop and I buy one cucumber, I’ll buy one onion.”
Mr Payne asks for the sticker to be placed directly on each item, rather than face the temptation of filling one of the two-kilogram capacity plastic bags on offer.
The chef also advises singletons not get too hung up on “organic”, particularly high-priced varieties that have been flown in from far-flung locales. Local produce is often grown sustainably, and far cheaper, he says.
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Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Essentials
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Malaysia Airlines all fly direct from the UAE to Kuala Lumpur and on to Penang from about Dh2,300 return, including taxes.
Where to stay
In Kuala Lumpur, Element is a recently opened, futuristic hotel high up in a Norman Foster-designed skyscraper. Rooms cost from Dh400 per night, including taxes. Hotel Stripes, also in KL, is a great value design hotel, with an infinity rooftop pool. Rooms cost from Dh310, including taxes.
In Penang, Ren i Tang is a boutique b&b in what was once an ancient Chinese Medicine Hall in the centre of Little India. Rooms cost from Dh220, including taxes.
23 Love Lane in Penang is a luxury boutique heritage hotel in a converted mansion, with private tropical gardens. Rooms cost from Dh400, including taxes.
In Langkawi, Temple Tree is a unique architectural villa hotel consisting of antique houses from all across Malaysia. Rooms cost from Dh350, including taxes.
Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
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It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre turbo 4-cyl
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Power: 190bhp
Torque: 300Nm
Price: Dh169,900
On sale: now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
About Karol Nawrocki
• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.
• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Power: 480hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 570Nm from 2,300-5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Fuel consumption: 10.4L/100km
Price: from Dh547,600
On sale: now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Saturday
West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur (3.30pm)
Burnley v Huddersfield Town (7pm)
Everton v Bournemouth (7pm)
Manchester City v Crystal Palace (7pm)
Southampton v Manchester United (7pm)
Stoke City v Chelsea (7pm)
Swansea City v Watford (7pm)
Leicester City v Liverpool (8.30pm)
Sunday
Brighton and Hove Albion v Newcastle United (7pm)
Monday
Arsenal v West Bromwich Albion (11pm)
Pad Man
Dir: R Balki
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte
Three-and-a-half stars
