Monaco have been moving up the table in Ligue 1. AP Images
Monaco have been moving up the table in Ligue 1. AP Images

Monaco take minimalism to the max



The principality of Monaco is an architectural study in maximising limited resources.

It is a tiny, unique city-state that covers two square kilometres, with about 20,000 residents in each.

A spectacular view comes with arrival from the sea, with high-rise buildings in the foreground nestled under a row of mountains.

The vast yachts in the harbour are a reminder that this is an address desirable for those with the wealth to buy into Monte Carlo’s miniature chic.

Monaco, the football club, are an oddity in France’s Ligue 1 for several reasons.

Their limited fan base, for one, and their preferential tax position, as they are domiciled in a sovereign land while competing in a league that, technically, is across a frontier.

At present, the Monaco who are marching steadily up the league table and preparing for the last 16 stage of the Uefa Champions League are not flashy or extravagant in the way they have been.

In fact, their football has come to resemble their locale in many ways: they maximise to make a little go a long way.

The past five years have been a rollercoaster at the Stade Louis II – the arena constructed over a car park, with space being at a premium – as Monaco have dipped and risen, spent and sold.

From a slump into Ligue 2, the 2004 European Cup runners-up clambered back to the top flight thanks to new ownership, that of the Russian billionaire Dimitri Rybolovlev, and finished second to Paris Saint-German last May, their first campaign after promotion.

They had recruited lavishly, notably acquiring Radamel Falcao, the striker, and his Colombian compatriot, James Rodriguez.

Rybolovlev then downsized, suddenly. Falcao and Rodriguez left in the summer, bound for Manchester United and Real Madrid. The promising young goalscorer Emannuel Riviere departed for Newcastle United.

A new head coach, Leonardo Jardim, was appointed on the back of his success at Sporting Portugal. But the club’s title credentials had been weakened. As for the manifesto Rybolovlev’s executives had advertised 18 months ago to build the Monaco “brand” as dazzling and exciting, these are the stats: Monaco finished top of their Champions League group to earn a February meeting with Arsenal on the back of having scored just four goals in six pool matches.

Not so much dazzling as austerely effective.

Jardim has set them up to defend meanly and attack cautiously.

Goalkeeper Danijel Subasic has not conceded a goal for 701 minutes of Ligue 1 football, a sound record to take into tomorrow’s confrontation with Ligue 1 leaders Lyon.

Since losing to Rennes at the end of November, Monaco have taken 19 points from a possible 21, to rise to fifth spot. The last four of those victories have been via their favourite score, 1-0.

Rather fitting, then, that their top marksman is a player of great gifts but a with reputation for a certain minimalism in his work-rate.

Dimitar Berbatov, the enigmatic Bulgarian, joined Monaco a year ago and, though it is suggested he may be turning restless for a new challenge as he enters his 35th year, he has been on form with four goals in the past five.

That is almost explosive by Monaco’s sparse, functional standards.

Jardim, who has had to accommodate regular injury absences, said last week that he follows a certain formula.

“We go for the win the second half. Victory is the most important thing if you are involved a in a match that’s not great,” he said.

Against Lyon, who have scored almost twice as many league goals as Monaco, Jardim will probably be content to reach half time goalless, which is what Monaco habitually do.

He will also be relieved Lyon’s Alex Lacazette, France’s top scorer this term, is out injured.

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US tops drug cost charts

The study of 13 essential drugs showed costs in the United States were about 300 per cent higher than the global average, followed by Germany at 126 per cent and 122 per cent in the UAE.

Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia were rated as nations with the lowest costs, about 90 per cent cheaper.

In the case of insulin, diabetic patients in the US paid five and a half times the global average, while in the UAE the costs are about 50 per cent higher than the median price of branded and generic drugs.

Some of the costliest drugs worldwide include Lipitor for high cholesterol. 

The study’s price index placed the US at an exorbitant 2,170 per cent higher for Lipitor than the average global price and the UAE at the eighth spot globally with costs 252 per cent higher.

High blood pressure medication Zestril was also more than 2,680 per cent higher in the US and the UAE price was 187 per cent higher than the global price.

Mina Cup winners

Under 12 – Minerva Academy

Under 14 – Unam Pumas

Under 16 – Fursan Hispania

Under 18 – Madenat

Crazy Rich Asians

Director: Jon M Chu

Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeon, Gemma Chan

Four stars

The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

Rating: 4/5

THE SPECS

Aston Martin Rapide AMR

Engine: 6.0-litre V12

Transmission: Touchtronic III eight-speed automatic

Power: 595bhp

Torque: 630Nm

Price: Dh999,563

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Marvel's%20Spider-Man%202
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Assassin's%20Creed%20Mirage
%3Cp%3EDeveloper%3A%20Ubisoft%0D%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20Ubisoft%0D%3Cbr%3EConsole%3A%20PC%2C%20PS5%2C%20XSX%2C%20Amazon%20Luna%0D%3Cbr%3ERelease%20date%3A%202023%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Starfield
%3Cp%3EDeveloper%3A%20Bethesda%20Game%20Studios%0D%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20Bethesda%20Softworks%0D%3Cbr%3EConsole%3A%20PC%2C%20Xbox%0D%3Cbr%3ERelease%20date%3A%202023%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

Company%20Profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
RIDE%20ON
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Larry%20Yang%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStars%3A%20Jackie%20Chan%2C%20Liu%20Haocun%2C%20Kevin%20Guo%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%202%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Hotel Data Cloud profile

Date started: June 2016
Founders: Gregor Amon and Kevin Czok
Based: Dubai
Sector: Travel Tech
Size: 10 employees
Funding: $350,000 (Dh1.3 million)
Investors: five angel investors (undisclosed except for Amar Shubar)

APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)

Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits

Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine

Storage: 128/256/512GB

Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4

Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps

Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID

Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight

In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter

Price: From Dh2,099

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
The biog:

From: Wimbledon, London, UK

Education: Medical doctor

Hobbies: Travelling, meeting new people and cultures 

Favourite animals: All of them 

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SQUADS

Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (capt), Azhar Ali, Shan Masood, Sami Aslam, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Usman Salahuddin, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Asghar, Bilal Asif, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Abbas, Wahab Riaz

Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (capt), Lahiru Thirimanne (vice-capt), Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Roshen Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Rangana Herath, Lakshan Sandakan, Dilruwan Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Gamage

Umpires: Ian Gould (ENG) and Nigel Llong (ENG)
TV umpire: Richard Kettleborough (ENG)
ICC match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)

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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Thank You for Banking with Us

Director: Laila Abbas

Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum

Rating: 4/5

Roll%20of%20Honour%2C%20men%E2%80%99s%20domestic%20rugby%20season
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Singham Again

Director: Rohit Shetty

Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone

Rating: 3/5

Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5
The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre turbo

Power: 181hp

Torque: 230Nm

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

Starting price: Dh79,000

On sale: Now

Specs%3A%202024%20McLaren%20Artura%20Spider
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SPECS%3A%20Polestar%203
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ELong-range%20dual%20motor%20with%20400V%20battery%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E360kW%20%2F%20483bhp%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E840Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle-speed%20automatic%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EMax%20touring%20range%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20628km%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E0-100km%2Fh%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204.7sec%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETop%20speed%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20210kph%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh360%2C000%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeptember%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs

Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors

Power: 480kW

Torque: 850Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)

On sale: Now

SPECS

Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now


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