In the most hostile territory of their home city, Barcelona not only survived, but utterly demolished neighbours Espanyol 4-0 with Lionel Messi playing one of the greatest games of his life.
When the world’s greatest ever player plays like the world’s greatest ever player can do, no opponents can live with him. He was backed up buy the constantly improving and prodigiously talented Ousame Dembele and Luis Suarez. It all made a mockery of Pele’s comments midweek where the Brazilian said: “Messi, the best ever? How can you make a comparison between a guy [Pele] who heads the ball well, shoots with the left, shoots with the right and another [Messi] who only shoots with one leg, only has one skill, doesn’t head the ball well.”
Pele’s timing could have only been worse had he made the comments ahead of a Brazil v Argentina game. Messi put his team ahead after 17 minutes, striking a free kick over the Espanyol wall and into the tiny space in the top corner of the goal which experienced goalkeeper Diego Lopez couldn’t reach.
Cornella is deeply hostile territory for Barca. Gerard Pique was booed every time he touched the ball – the first after 15 seconds – because he’s not been afraid to speak his mind, to defend himself against abuse and to mock fans of a club who call themselves "the marvellous minority".
There were no away fans to support Spain's reigning champions, who wore a garish all salmon pink kit. Hardcore Barca fans want to support their team away in their derby, but there was no ticket allocation. Instead, a few dozen tourists clapped when Messi put his side ahead. That immediately attracted the attention of home fans who moved towards them to attack them. The tourists were saved by stewards. Hemmed between tight social apartment blocks and a vast industrial estate on Barcelona’s south fringe, Cornella is not the Barcelona that you see on postcards.
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Read more:
In pictures: 'Extraordinary' Lionel Messi leads Barcelona to rout of Espanyol
Mauricio Pochettino shows 'belief' in Tottenham squad as focus turns to Barcelona
Andy Mitten: Barcelona's Ousmane Dembele beginning to justify his worth at Catalan club
[ All eyes on Copa Libertadores final in Madrid as Abu Dhabi next stop for winner ]
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There was no applause when Dembele made it 2-0 to the visitors after 26 minutes, just a stunned, pained, "whoosh" around all four sides of the stadium after the French youngster turned - Johan Cruyff like - knocking the ball from his left foot and curled the ball across the goal and past Lopez into the top corner. Messi had set Dembele up, releasing the ball to him while surrounded by five blue and white shirts. Messi was the first to congratulate Dembele, who is now showing the form which persuaded Barca to make him the third most expensive player in football in 2017.
Espanyol didn’t play badly; they are enjoying their best season in years and would have gone top of the league three games ago had they beaten Sevilla. But this is Espanyol, where hopes are terminally crushed. They had lost their last three games and would soon fall further behind against their neighbours.
Barca were outstanding, with Messi their best player. He worked a one-two with Suarez, who played the ball back to him – and back. The Uruguayan hit the post. Seconds later, Messi headed against the crossbar.
Messi did make one mistake as the half came to a close with a rare misplaced pass. He then chased back 50 metres to win the ball back. Espanyol fans didn’t know whether to applaud or curse him.
Barca made it 3-0 in the 45th minute, Suarez scoring from a tight angle at the near post. Luis Enrique's side dominated possession and didn’t relent. Messi scored the fourth, another glorious free kick from distance after 65 minutes. It was his ninth goal scored direct from a free kick in 2018 so far. The Argentine saw another header saved after 69 minutes before Espanyol thought they got a deserved goal from defender Oscar Duarte after 73 minutes. Players and fans celebrated. The ball headed back to the centre circle to restart the game – and then the goal was disallowed after a VAR judgement. There were howls of protest which continued when Suarez took his time to leave the field for substitute Munir El Haddadi.
Barca stay top and Messi stays on top of the world – not matter what Pele says.
The Sky Is Pink
Director: Shonali Bose
Cast: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Farhan Akhtar, Zaira Wasim, Rohit Saraf
Three stars
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin
Director: Shawn Levy
Rating: 3/5
ARGYLLE
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, John Cena
Rating: 3/5
Generational responses to the pandemic
Devesh Mamtani from Century Financial believes the cash-hoarding tendency of each generation is influenced by what stage of the employment cycle they are in. He offers the following insights:
Baby boomers (those born before 1964): Owing to market uncertainty and the need to survive amid competition, many in this generation are looking for options to hoard more cash and increase their overall savings/investments towards risk-free assets.
Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980): Gen X is currently in its prime working years. With their personal and family finances taking a hit, Generation X is looking at multiple options, including taking out short-term loan facilities with competitive interest rates instead of dipping into their savings account.
Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996): This market situation is giving them a valuable lesson about investing early. Many millennials who had previously not saved or invested are looking to start doing so now.
Wayne Rooney's career
Everton (2002-2004)
- Appearances: 48
- Goals: 17
Manchester United (2004-2017)
- Appearances: 496
- Goals: 253
England (2003-)
- Appearances: 119
- Goals: 53
TWISTERS
Director:+Lee+Isaac+Chung
Starring:+Glen+Powell,+Daisy+Edgar-Jones,+Anthony+Ramos
Rating:+2.5/5
The Continental: From the World of John Wick
Created by: Greg Coolidge, Shawn Simmons, Kirk Ward
Stars: Mel Gibson, Colin Woodell, Mishel Prada
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: SmartCrowd
Started: 2018
Founder: Siddiq Farid and Musfique Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech / PropTech
Initial investment: $650,000
Current number of staff: 35
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Various institutional investors and notable angel investors (500 MENA, Shurooq, Mada, Seedstar, Tricap)
RESULT
RS Leipzig 3
Marcel Sabitzer 10', 21'
Emil Forsberg 87'
Tottenham 0
The specs
Engine: 4-cylinder 2-litre
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Power: 252 brake horsepower
Torque: 352Nm
Price: from Dh146,700
On sale: now
Who is Allegra Stratton?
- Previously worked at The Guardian, BBC’s Newsnight programme and ITV News
- Took up a public relations role for Chancellor Rishi Sunak in April 2020
- In October 2020 she was hired to lead No 10’s planned daily televised press briefings
- The idea was later scrapped and she was appointed spokeswoman for Cop26
- Ms Stratton, 41, is married to James Forsyth, the political editor of The Spectator
- She has strong connections to the Conservative establishment
- Mr Sunak served as best man at her 2011 wedding to Mr Forsyth
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
COMPANY PROFILE
Founder: Hani Abu Ghazaleh
Based: Abu Dhabi, with an office in Montreal
Founded: 2018
Sector: Virtual Reality
Investment raised: $1.2 million, and nearing close of $5 million new funding round
Number of employees: 12
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
List of UAE medal winners
Gold
Faisal Al Ketbi (Open weight and 94kg)
Talib Al Kirbi (69kg)
Omar Al Fadhli (56kg)
Silver
Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)
Khalfan Belhol (85kg)
Zayed Al Mansoori (62kg)
Mouza Al Shamsi (49kg women)
Bronze
Yahia Mansour Al Hammadi (Open and +94kg)
Saood Al Hammadi (77kg)
Said Al Mazroui (62kg)
Obaid Al Nuaimi (56kg)
Bashayer Al Matrooshi (62kg women)
Reem Abdulkareem (45kg women)
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
MEDIEVIL (1998)
Developer: SCE Studio Cambridge
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Console: PlayStation, PlayStation 4 and 5
Rating: 3.5/5
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
Developer: Sucker Punch Productions
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Console: PlayStation 2 to 5
Rating: 5/5
Brief scores:
Toss: Northern Warriors, elected to field first
Bengal Tigers 130-1 (10 ov)
Roy 60 not out, Rutherford 47 not out
Northern Warriors 94-7 (10 ov)
Simmons 44; Yamin 4-4