Dirk Kuyt, the Liverpool striker, headed a late goal to send the five-times European champions into the last 16 of the Europa League with a 1-0 victory over a defiant Sparta Prague at Anfield on Thursday night.
Ajax Amsterdam and Benfica, two other big names in European football, also went through, the Dutch beating Anderlecht 2-0 and the Portuguese winning by the same score at VfB Stuttgart.
PSV Eindhoven beat Lille 3-1 to progress from a meeting of Dutch and French league leaders while Russian pair Zenit St Petersburg and Spartak Moscow overcame Swiss opposition in frigid conditions.
Germany captain Michael Ballack was among the scorers as Bayer Leverkusen beat Metalist Kharkiv 2-0 to complete a 6-0 aggregate victory over the Ukrainians.
Big-spending Manchester City qualified with a 3-0 win over Aris Salonika, helped by two goals in the first 12 minutes from recent Bosnian signing Edin Dzeko after a goalless first leg. Yaya Toure added the third with a deflected shot.
They will face Dynamo Kiev, who beat Besiktas 4-0 with Andriy Shevchenko among the scorers for an emphatic 8-1 aggregate scoreline.
Italy's interest ended when Villarreal beat Napoli 2-1 following last week's goalless draw. The Spanish side will now meet Leverkusen.
In Kenny Dalglish's first European home match as Liverpool manager - the club were banned from Europe during his previous stint - Kuyt headed in from a corner after 86 minutes to secure victory over the Czechs with extra time looming.
"We deserved it, we had a lot of chances," Dalglish told Britain's Channel 5 television. "Even after we scored we had a couple. Tough opposition but they hung in, great credit to the lads for their determination and effort to get a result."
The first leg had ended goalless in Prague. Liverpool will face Braga, who beat Lech Poznan 2-0 for a 2-1 aggregate win, in the next round.
Serb Miralem Sulejmani scored two early goals as four-times European champions Ajax completed a 5-0 win over their Belgian opponents and former Uefa Cup winners Anderlecht.
Benfica's Eduardo Salvio and Oscar Cardozo, two members of their South American contingent, completed a 4-1 aggregate win for the former European champions over Stuttgart.
The Portuguese will next play Paris St Germain after the French side went through on away goals against Bate Borisov.
Pierre-Alain Frau gave Lille a halftime lead at PSV but Balasz Dzsudzsak, Jeremain Lens and Marcelo replied for the Dutch in an 18-minute spell as they won 5-3 on aggregate.
Zenit St Petersburg, the Russian champions and 2008 Uefa Cup winners, came back from the brink of elimination to beat Young Boys Berne 3-1 and 4-3 on aggregate.
Ammar Jemal gave the Swiss the lead in a game which kicked off in a temperature of minus 9 Celsius, slightly warmer than predicted earlier this week.
Danko Lazovic and Sergei Semak replied for Zenit either side of halftime and Roman Shirokov scored the winner.
Spartak Moscow drew 1-1 at home to FC Basel in even colder conditions - around minus 15 - to go through 4-3 on aggregate and earn a tie against Ajax.
With CSKA Moscow qualifying on Wednesday for a last 16 tie with Porto, compatriots Rubin Kazan, who squandered a 2-0 lead at Twente Enschede to draw 2-2 and lose 4-2 on aggregate, were the only Russian side to go out.
Twente will play Zenit in the next round.
Rangers grabbed a stoppage time equaliser through Edu in a 2-2 draw at Sporting that sent the Scottish side through on away goals to set up a clash with PSV.
The biog
Prefers vegetables and fish to meat and would choose salad over pizza
Walks daily as part of regular exercise routine
France is her favourite country to visit
Has written books and manuals on women’s education, first aid and health for the family
Family: Husband, three sons and a daughter
Fathiya Nadhari's instructions to her children was to give back to the country
The children worked as young volunteers in social, education and health campaigns
Her motto is to never stop working for the country
MEDIEVIL (1998)
Developer: SCE Studio Cambridge
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Console: PlayStation, PlayStation 4 and 5
Rating: 3.5/5
KEY DATES IN AMAZON'S HISTORY
July 5, 1994: Jeff Bezos founds Cadabra Inc, which would later be renamed to Amazon.com, because his lawyer misheard the name as 'cadaver'. In its earliest days, the bookstore operated out of a rented garage in Bellevue, Washington
July 16, 1995: Amazon formally opens as an online bookseller. Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought becomes the first item sold on Amazon
1997: Amazon goes public at $18 a share, which has grown about 1,000 per cent at present. Its highest closing price was $197.85 on June 27, 2024
1998: Amazon acquires IMDb, its first major acquisition. It also starts selling CDs and DVDs
2000: Amazon Marketplace opens, allowing people to sell items on the website
2002: Amazon forms what would become Amazon Web Services, opening the Amazon.com platform to all developers. The cloud unit would follow in 2006
2003: Amazon turns in an annual profit of $75 million, the first time it ended a year in the black
2005: Amazon Prime is introduced, its first-ever subscription service that offered US customers free two-day shipping for $79 a year
2006: Amazon Unbox is unveiled, the company's video service that would later morph into Amazon Instant Video and, ultimately, Amazon Video
2007: Amazon's first hardware product, the Kindle e-reader, is introduced; the Fire TV and Fire Phone would come in 2014. Grocery service Amazon Fresh is also started
2009: Amazon introduces Amazon Basics, its in-house label for a variety of products
2010: The foundations for Amazon Studios were laid. Its first original streaming content debuted in 2013
2011: The Amazon Appstore for Google's Android is launched. It is still unavailable on Apple's iOS
2014: The Amazon Echo is launched, a speaker that acts as a personal digital assistant powered by Alexa
2017: Amazon acquires Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, its biggest acquisition
2018: Amazon's market cap briefly crosses the $1 trillion mark, making it, at the time, only the third company to achieve that milestone
Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi
Yadoo’s House Restaurant+& Cafe
For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.
Golden Dallah
For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.
Al Mrzab Restaurant
For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.
Al Derwaza
For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup.
Other simple ideas for sushi rice dishes
Cheat’s nigiri
This is easier to make than sushi rolls. With damp hands, form the cooled rice into small tablet shapes. Place slices of fresh, raw salmon, mackerel or trout (or smoked salmon) lightly touched with wasabi, then press, wasabi side-down, onto the rice. Serve with soy sauce and pickled ginger.
Easy omurice
This fusion dish combines Asian fried rice with a western omelette. To make, fry cooked and cooled sushi rice with chopped vegetables such as carrot and onion and lashings of sweet-tangy ketchup, then wrap in a soft egg omelette.
Deconstructed sushi salad platter
This makes a great, fuss-free sharing meal. Arrange sushi rice on a platter or board, then fill the space with all your favourite sushi ingredients (edamame beans, cooked prawns or tuna, tempura veggies, pickled ginger and chilli tofu), with a dressing or dipping sauce on the side.
Bridgerton season three - part one
Directors: Various
Starring: Nicola Coughlan, Luke Newton, Jonathan Bailey
Rating: 3/5
ROUTE TO TITLE
Round 1: Beat Leolia Jeanjean 6-1, 6-2
Round 2: Beat Naomi Osaka 7-6, 1-6, 7-5
Round 3: Beat Marie Bouzkova 6-4, 6-2
Round 4: Beat Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0
Quarter-final: Beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2
Semi-final: Beat Coco Gauff 6-2, 6-4
Final: Beat Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2
EXPATS
Director: Lulu Wang
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, Ji-young Yoo, Brian Tee, Jack Huston
Rating: 4/5
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.
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Klipit
Started: 2022
Founders: Venkat Reddy, Mohammed Al Bulooki, Bilal Merchant, Asif Ahmed, Ovais Merchant
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Digital receipts, finance, blockchain
Funding: $4 million
Investors: Privately/self-funded
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Most match wins on clay
Guillermo Vilas - 659
Manuel Orantes - 501
Thomas Muster - 422
Rafael Nadal - 399 *
Jose Higueras - 378
Eddie Dibbs - 370
Ilie Nastase - 338
Carlos Moya - 337
Ivan Lendl - 329
Andres Gomez - 322
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Bib Gourmand restaurants
Al Khayma
Bait Maryam
Brasserie Boulud
Fi'lia
folly
Goldfish
Ibn AlBahr
Indya by Vineet
Kinoya
Ninive
Orfali Bros
Reif Japanese Kushiyaki
Shabestan
Teible
A QUIET PLACE
Starring: Lupita Nyong'o, Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou
Director: Michael Sarnoski
Rating: 4/5
Titanium Escrow profile
Started: December 2016
Founder: Ibrahim Kamalmaz
Based: UAE
Sector: Finance / legal
Size: 3 employees, pre-revenue
Stage: Early stage
Investors: Founder's friends and Family
Dengue fever symptoms
- High fever
- Intense pain behind your eyes
- Severe headache
- Muscle and joint pains
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Swollen glands
- Rash
If symptoms occur, they usually last for two-seven days
if you go
The flights
Etihad, Emirates and Singapore Airlines fly direct from the UAE to Singapore from Dh2,265 return including taxes. The flight takes about 7 hours.
The hotel
Rooms at the M Social Singapore cost from SG $179 (Dh488) per night including taxes.
The tour
Makan Makan Walking group tours costs from SG $90 (Dh245) per person for about three hours. Tailor-made tours can be arranged. For details go to www.woknstroll.com.sg
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
Company Profile
Name: HyveGeo
Started: 2023
Founders: Abdulaziz bin Redha, Dr Samsurin Welch, Eva Morales and Dr Harjit Singh
Based: Cambridge and Dubai
Number of employees: 8
Industry: Sustainability & Environment
Funding: $200,000 plus undisclosed grant
Investors: Venture capital and government
ALRAWABI SCHOOL FOR GIRLS
Creator: Tima Shomali
Starring: Tara Abboud, Kira Yaghnam, Tara Atalla
Rating: 4/5
Dengue fever symptoms
High fever (40°C/104°F)
Severe headache
Pain behind the eyes
Muscle and joint pains
Nausea
Vomiting
Swollen glands
Rash
SPECS
Engine: Dual electric motors with 102kW battery pack
Power: 570hp
Torque: 890Nm
Range: Up to 428km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.