Pressure grows on Thomas Tuchel with PSG's place in Europe in the balance

Still buoyant after their comeback at Southampton, Manchester United can land a heavy blow in the Champions League on a team alarmingly vulnerable to comebacks. Paris Saint-Germain visit Old Trafford on the back of letting a lead slip at home to Bordeaux and a two-goal advantage turn into a defeat at Monaco.

And that’s just the domestic hinterland, a chill shadow from recent results in a French league that, as PSG’s Neymar put it after Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Bordeaux, “is a competition where we are used to winning a lot of games.” Naturally, PSG having been winning enough to still be top of a Ligue 1 table where they have been champions seven times out of the last eight attempts. But in Europe their margin for error is much slimmer.

Defeat on Wednesday, coupled with a victory in Group H for RB Leipzig at bottom club Istanbul Basaksehir, would leave PSG at the uncomfortable mercy of the German and English teams on the final matchday. Even if PSG were to beat Basaksehir next week, they could only leapfrog Leipzig if United, who would have qualified already, win in East Germany.

“I’m not worried about the United game,” declared Thomas Tuchel, the PSG head coach, ahead of the expedition to Manchester. He has already given off plenty of signals of deep concern. Against Bordeaux, the two senior components of his defence were rested, with the D-day at Old Trafford in mind. Keylor Navas, the goalkeeper, should return against United, but the match-fitness of defender Marquinhos, who has been struggling with a thigh problem, remains a minor doubt.

Tuchel also articulated his specific worries about recent form. His players, he said, have fallen short in attitude, in effort and in discipline. “I usually defend my team, but I can’t do that here. We cannot play against United like we did against Bordeaux or Monaco, and we all have to take responsibility, me included.” Tuchel is well aware that his employers will be ready to hold him to that.

We cannot play against United like we did against Bordeaux or Monaco, and we all have to take responsibility, me included

One hundred and one days ago, Tuchel, his left foot encased in a protective medical boot, was issuing instructions to the first PSG side to have reached a Champions League final. It was a breakthrough moment for a club who have invested more heavily than any other in individual superstars to establish themselves as part of Europe’s elite. The narrow defeat in the Lisbon final, 1-0 to Bayern Munich, hardly undermined predictions that the club of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe would soar higher now they had taken part in club’s football’s showpiece event.

Tuchel’s ankle is well recovered and he can again bring all his wiry energy to the technical area. Fixtures against United tend to raise his pulse. In a very short time, the duel between PSG, a club propelled by new money, and United, a traditional grandee of the European Cup, has developed into a modern classic, a nail-biter overseen by two young coaches, both 47, who came to the profession via very distinct routes. One, Tuchel, has been a manager by vocation since his 20s; the other Ole Gunnar Solskjaer draws on an association with United rooted in a long, heroic playing career.

Solskjaer the coach tends to peak against PSG. There was the dramatic turnaround in Paris in 2018/19, when United reversed a 2-0 first leg last-16 stage deficit thanks to an injury-time Marcus Rashford penalty, controversially awarded for Presnel Kimpembe’s handball. There was October’s near-repeat, 2-1 to United at the Parc des Princes, with a late Rashford winner giving Solskjaer impetus in his first group phase as a manager. Since then United have beaten Leipzig 5-0 and taken three points from six against Basaksehir.

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Southampton v Manchester United ratings

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Since the opening matchday in France, Edinson Cavani, the former PSG striker signed in October, has begun to prove his value for United, too, although the Uruguayan has been the focus of unwelcome attention after a post on his social media account after Sunday's 3-2 comeback win at Southampton included a Spanish term that can be interpreted as offensive. The English Football Association have opened an investigation. A breach of its social media rules can carry a three-match ban.

Cavani, who helped set up a goal and scored two after Southampton had taken a 2-0 lead, apologised for what he said had been "intended as an affectionate greeting to a friend". Solskjaer added, "he is really sorry for the mistake he's made, with no malicious intent at all. We support him, but we also support the FA. We want to be in the fight against discrimination. I'm sure Edinson has learned the hard way."

Cavani is available to face the club for whom, over seven seasons he scored 200 goals, more than any PSG player in history, and Solskjaer reports he has a full-strength United squad, with David de Gea fit after withdrawing at Southampton with a sore knee.

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome

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Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026

1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years

If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.

2. E-invoicing in the UAE

Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.

3. More tax audits

Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.

4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime

Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.

5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit

There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.

6. Further transfer pricing enforcement

Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.

7. Limited time periods for audits

Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.

8. Pillar 2 implementation

Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.

9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services

Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.

10. Substance and CbC reporting focus

Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.

Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer

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Attacks on Egypt’s long rooted Copts

Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.

The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.

Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.

More recently, ISIS has vowed to go after the Christians, claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against churches packed with worshippers starting December 2016.

The discrimination many Christians complain about and the shift towards religious conservatism by many Egyptian Muslims over the last 50 years have forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to migrate, starting new lives in growing communities in places as far afield as Australia, Canada and the United States.

Here is a look at major attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christians in recent years:

November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.

May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.

April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.

February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.

December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.

July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.

May 2016: A Muslim mob ransacks and torches seven Christian homes in Minya after rumours spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman. The elderly mother of the Christian man was stripped naked and dragged through a street by the mob.

New Year's Eve 2011: A bomb explodes in a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria as worshippers leave after a midnight mass, killing more than 20 people.

How to wear a kandura

Dos

Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester

Don’ts

Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying