Magical Messi, but Liverpool still have hope: Barcelona v Liverpool talking points


John McAuley
  • English
  • Arabic

Barcelona defeated Liverpool 3-0 on Wednesday night in the first leg of their Uefa Champions League semi-final to take a major step towards next month’s showpiece. Here’s the main talking points from Camp Nou.

Magical Messi’s momentus mark

What more is there to say? Lionel Messi brought up his 600th Barcelona goal with one of the most exquisite free kicks. Not only did it register a lofty personal mark, but lifted his team to 3-0 on the night and placed one of their feet firmly in the final. Moments before, Messi's 599th goal was altogether more different, a tap-in having collected on his chest Luis Suarez's rebounded effort. Until then, Messi had been relatively quiet, by his incredible standards at least. Then he decided the match, most probably the tie. He scored an eighth free kick of the season; the next best in Europe's top five leagues is four. It took him 683 matches to bring up 600. An absolute joy to witness.

Liverpool’s old boys had contrasting nights

Up against their former club, Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho made rather different impacts. Suarez delighted in his regular role as bête noir, snarling and snapping at Liverpool, at one point barging Andrew Robertson, constantly haranguing the referee. He capped a gnawing display by opening the scoring, then inadvertently supplying the assist for Barcelona's second. Coutinho, meanwhile, left the pitch on the hour mark to a less-than-favourable response from the home crowd. Despite beginning brightly, the Brazilian soon slipped from view, his influence regressing, his passing and pressing sloppy. Signed for last year from Liverpool for £142 million (Dh680.5m), his future at the Catalan club appears in real jeopardy.

Valiant visitors deserved more

A 3-0 defeat leaves Liverpool staring blankly at the exit door. Yet they more than contributed to an utterly engrossing game, and were very unfortunate to leave without an away goal. Sadio Mane should have scored; Mohamed Salah too. Seconds before the Egyptian’s shot cannoned back off the upright, Roberto Firmino’s shot was hacked from the Barcelona line by Ivan Rakitic. Elsewhere, Marc Andre ter Stegen made a fine low save from Salah, while James Milner shot straight at the home goalkeeper when well placed to score. For a large part, Jurgen Klopp’s game plan worked brilliantly. Then Messi stood up, and put the tie almost beyond them. Liverpool were unlucky. They deserved more.

Lightning left-backs leave impressions

Full-back used to be one of the least desirable positions on the pitch. "Who wants to be Gary Neville?" Jamie Carragher once trumpeted famously, albeit a little facetiously. His former club, though, have a genuine game-changer at left-back. As do his former club's semi-final opponents. In Andrew Robertson and Jordi Alba, Liverpool and Barcelona boast two of the finest exponents in that position: both rapid, both relentless, both regular creators of goals. Alba's beautifully contrived assist for Suarez to break the deadlock was his 15th of the season. He leads that statistic in the Champions League, with five. Robertson, meanwhile, gave another all-action display, in a campaign full of them.

However faint, there’s still hope

Attempting to reach successive European Cup finals, Liverpool’s chances look bleak. Three down, with no away goal to take to Merseyside next week. What is more, Barcelona have conceivably the greatest player to have played the game. However, Liverpool will still believe they can cause an upset. Their energy and pace will no doubt concern Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde, especially at what’s sure to be a lively Anfield. They will be better with Firmino back starting. And recent history suggests it’s possible, too. Last year, Barcelona defeated Roma 4-1 at home in the quarter-finals, then lost 3-0 in Italy to crash out of the tournament. Edin Dzeko struck after six minutes to set the tone. If Liverpool do likewise, they have a chance.

ELIO

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

The fake news generation

288,000 – the number of posts reported as hate speech that were deleted by Facebook globally each month in May and June this year

11% – the number of Americans who said they trusted the news they read on Snapchat as of June 2017, according to Statista. Over a quarter stated that they ‘rarely trusted’ the news they read on social media in general

31% - the number of young people in the US aged between 10 and 18 who said they had shared a news story online in the last six months that they later found out was wrong or inaccurate

63% - percentage of Arab nationals who said they get their news from social media every single day.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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How Voiss turns words to speech

The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen

The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser

This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen

A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB

The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free

Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards

Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser

Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages

At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness

More than 90 per cent live in developing countries

The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device

Honeymoonish
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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
Aayan%E2%80%99s%20records
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EYoungest%20UAE%20men%E2%80%99s%20cricketer%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EWhen%20he%20debuted%20against%20Bangladesh%20aged%2016%20years%20and%20314%20days%2C%20he%20became%20the%20youngest%20ever%20to%20play%20for%20the%20men%E2%80%99s%20senior%20team.%20He%20broke%20the%20record%20set%20by%20his%20World%20Cup%20squad-mate%2C%20Alishan%20Sharafu%2C%20of%2017%20years%20and%2044%20days.%3Cbr%3E%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EYoungest%20wicket-taker%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EAfter%20taking%20the%20wicket%20of%20Bangladesh%E2%80%99s%20Litton%20Das%20on%20debut%20in%20Dubai%2C%20Aayan%20became%20the%20youngest%20male%20cricketer%20to%20take%20a%20wicket%20against%20a%20Full%20Member%20nation%20in%20a%20T20%20international.%3Cbr%3E%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EYoungest%20in%20T20%20World%20Cup%20history%3F%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EAayan%20does%20not%20turn%2017%20until%20November%2015%20%E2%80%93%20which%20is%20two%20days%20after%20the%20T20%20World%20Cup%20final%20at%20the%20MCG.%20If%20he%20does%20play%20in%20the%20competition%2C%20he%20will%20be%20its%20youngest%20ever%20player.%20Pakistan%E2%80%99s%20Mohammed%20Amir%2C%20who%20was%2017%20years%20and%2055%20days%20when%20he%20played%20in%202009%2C%20currently%20holds%20the%20record.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters

The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.

 Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.

A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.

The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.

The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.

Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.

Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment

But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.

Gulf Under 19s final

Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B

Tearful appearance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday. 

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow. 

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.

Champions League Last 16

Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) v Bayern Munich (GER) 

Sporting Lisbon (POR) v Manchester City (ENG) 

Benfica (POR) v Ajax (NED) 

Chelsea (ENG) v Lille (FRA) 

Atletico Madrid (ESP) v Manchester United (ENG) 

Villarreal (ESP) v Juventus (ITA) 

Inter Milan (ITA) v Liverpool (ENG) 

Paris Saint-Germain v Real Madrid (ESP)  

Central%20Bank's%20push%20for%20a%20robust%20financial%20infrastructure
%3Cul%3E%0A%3Cli%3ECBDC%20real-value%20pilot%20held%20with%20three%20partner%20institutions%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EPreparing%20buy%20now%2C%20pay%20later%20regulations%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EPreparing%20for%20the%202023%20launch%20of%20the%20domestic%20card%20initiative%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EPhase%20one%20of%20the%20Financial%20Infrastructure%20Transformation%20(FiT)%20completed%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3C%2Ful%3E%0A
Jewel of the Expo 2020

252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome

13.6km of steel used in the structure that makes it equal in length to 16 Burj Khalifas

550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome

724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses

Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa

Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site

The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants

Al Wasl means connection in Arabic

World’s largest 360-degree projection surface

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. 

Rooney's club record

At Everton Appearances: 77; Goals: 17

At Manchester United Appearances: 559; Goals: 253

MATCH INFO

Azerbaijan 0

Wales 2 (Moore 10', Wilson 34')

MATCH INFO

Inter Milan 1 (Martinez 18' pen)

Juventus 2 (Dybala 4', Higuain 80')

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

'The worst thing you can eat'

Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.

Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines: 

Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.

Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.

Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.

Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.

Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.

Summer special
Specs

Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request