Petr Cech, the Czech international goalkeeper, and Michael Carrick, the England midfielder, will miss the curtain-raiser to the English season when Chelsea play Manchester United in the Community Shield at Wembley Stadium tomorrow.
Carrick injured an ankle in United's 7-1 friendly win over the League of Ireland XI in Dublin on Wednesday and the problem will also sideline him for the opening matches of the Premier League season. Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, said yesterday that Rio Ferdinand and midfielder Anderson would also miss the game as he spelled out his team's sickness and injury concerns.
"Anderson is making quite good progress, Rio is still well behind, [Owen] Hargreaves is still in the States, the two Da Silvas [Fabio and Rafael] had food poisoning in the week and are doubtful for Sunday so we are not in a great position. Carrick will be out for a couple of weeks," Ferguson said.
He also said Wayne Rooney and former England international frontman Michael Owen would play for part of the match.
"Rooney and Owen definitely need to play 45 minutes on Sunday - and as we have had to do with the Community Shield for the last few years, we'll use it as a mechanism to get players further down the line in terms of fitness." Cech, who saved two spot kicks when his side beat United on penalties in last year's Community Shield, has a calf injury but is expected to be fit by next Saturday when the league and FA Cup winners kick off the season at home to promoted West Bromwich Albion.
Carlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea manager, named his team yesterday, with Hilario starting in goal in place of Cech, who has an injured calf muscle. Didier Drogba, last season's top scorer, will start on the bench."After a fantastic season it was very difficult to change this squad. We could repeat it this year with these players," Ancelotti told the club website.
* Reuters
Chelsea XI: Hilario; Paulo Ferreira, John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole; Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard; Salomon Kalou, Nicolas Anelka, Florent Malouda
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The lowdown
Badla
Rating: 2.5/5
Produced by: Red Chillies, Azure Entertainment
Director: Sujoy Ghosh
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Amrita Singh, Tony Luke
Batti Gul Meter Chalu
Producers: KRTI Productions, T-Series
Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
CREW
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERajesh%20A%20Krishnan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETabu%2C%20Kareena%20Kapoor%20Khan%2C%20Kriti%20Sanon%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Pearls on a Branch: Oral Tales
Najlaa Khoury, Archipelago Books
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
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre, 4-cylinder turbo
Transmission: CVT
Power: 170bhp
Torque: 220Nm
Price: Dh98,900
