Two years ago Albert Riera had his first taste of English football, but it wasn't quite as sweet as he had hoped, as a five-month loan spell at Manchester City came to nothing.
A derby win against Manchester United capped a memorable debut, but just glimpses of his quality and one goal - against Newcastle - in 15 league games meant Stuart Pearce, the then manager, was not prepared to spend the little money he had available.
The Spaniard admitted he returned to Espanyol a wiser player for the experience, more aware of how to tackle rather than be tackled.
The fortunes of Riera and City have certainly changed since then as the left winger returns to Eastlands today in Liverpool colours after a summer move.
Riera, 26, aims to show the City faithful just how much he has improved. "It will be a little bit of a special match for me," he said. "I enjoyed my time there of course, but in football these things happen.
"If I had stayed at City then I wouldn't have come here to Liverpool. City is in the past and the most important thing for me is the present. I'm not thinking now of City, the three points are the most important thing."
Riera could also line-up directly against his friend and former Espanyol teammate Pablo Zabaleta, who has added some bite to the right side of City's defence.
But the Liverpool player added: "It is great Pablo is here and we speak all the time. But once on the pitch there are no friends. I will do my best against City and I have it in my mind to score against them. I want to make progress at Liverpool, to put in good performances and win something. I feel I'm getting better all the time."
City can also do better after their recent patchy form. After successive defeats against Brighton and Wigan, Mark Hughes was relieved by Thursday's 2-1 Uefa Cup win over Omonia Nicosia which saw his side reach the group stage.
Liverpool will pose a stiffer test than the Cypriots, however, and show City just what they have to do to break into the league's top four.
Hughes admitted the Merseyside club are a team to emulate. "Liverpool have been a top-four side for a number of years now," he said. "I sense that this season they will have a real go at trying to win the Premier League. They look confident, strong and assured. They will run the top teams very close. It is a big test for us as they are playing exceptionally well at the moment."
West Ham had some disappointing news ahead of today's game at Upton Park against Bolton when it was revealed that striker Dean Ashton will not play again until next year after undergoing surgery on an injured ankle.
West Ham are short of options up front and are weighing up whether to sign out-of-contract Spanish striker Diego Tristan. The Former Deportivo La Coruna and Mallorca forward Tristan, 32, has been capped 15 times by his country.
The Bolton manager Gary Megson has hailed Zola as the finest foreign import to grace the Premier League. Megson rates the former Chelsea favourite's feats at Stamford Bridge above the achievements of Eric Cantona, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry since the formation of the breakaway league in 1992.
And he believes the Italian can transmit his success as a player to the managerial dug-out. "If Zola is anywhere near as good a manager as he was a player then he's going to be a class act," said Megson. "He's a good bloke and as a footballer I think he was one of the top three imports that came into the Premier League. You had Bergkamp, Ruud Gullit and Jurgen Klinsmann, who all raised the standard, but I think the top one was Gianfranco Zola."
David Moyes insists there is no crisis at Everton - and is pointing at the table to prove it.
Everton have failed to keep a clean sheet so far this term but Moyes says he will not be panicking about the scenario and is using mathematics to back up his argument. He has noted that if Everton beat Newcastle at Goodison Park today, they will have an identical played seven, won three, drawn one and lost three record as this time last term, a season where they finished fifth in the league in what was hailed as a "successful" year.
Newcastle midfielder Danny Guthrie will be back in the Newcastle squad after missing the last three games through suspension after being sent off for kicking out at Hull's Craig Fagan last month.
Aston Villa captain Martin Laursen, whose team travel to Chelsea today, said that the Londoners' long unbeaten league record "has to end sometime".
Chelsea have not suffered a league defeat at Stamford Bridge for more than four years but Laursen said: "There is just no arguing with the fact that they are immense on home soil - but that unbeaten record has to end sometime and we will go to Stamford Bridge in a positive mood."
* With agencies
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: SmartCrowd
Started: 2018
Founder: Siddiq Farid and Musfique Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech / PropTech
Initial investment: $650,000
Current number of staff: 35
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Various institutional investors and notable angel investors (500 MENA, Shurooq, Mada, Seedstar, Tricap)
Conservative MPs who have publicly revealed sending letters of no confidence
- Steve Baker
- Peter Bone
- Ben Bradley
- Andrew Bridgen
- Maria Caulfield
- Simon Clarke
- Philip Davies
- Nadine Dorries
- James Duddridge
- Mark Francois
- Chris Green
- Adam Holloway
- Andrea Jenkyns
- Anne-Marie Morris
- Sheryll Murray
- Jacob Rees-Mogg
- Laurence Robertson
- Lee Rowley
- Henry Smith
- Martin Vickers
- John Whittingdale
The biog
Name: Salvador Toriano Jr
Age: 59
From: Laguna, The Philippines
Favourite dish: Seabass or Fish and Chips
Hobbies: When he’s not in the restaurant, he still likes to cook, along with walking and meeting up with friends.
'HIJRAH: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE PROPHET'
Edited by: Idries Trevathan
Pages: 240
Publisher: Hirmer Publishers
Available: Now
MATCH DETAILS
Manchester United 3
Greenwood (21), Martial (33), Rashford (49)
Partizan Belgrade 0
Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
'Will of the People'
Artist: Muse
Label: Warner
Rating: 2.5/5
RACE CARD
6.30pm Mazrat Al Ruwayah – Group 2 (PA) $36,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
7.05pm Handicap (TB) $68,000 (Turf) 2,410m
7.40pm Meydan Trophy – Conditions (TB) $50,000 (T) 1,900m
8.15pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 - Group 2 (TB) $293,000 (D) 1,900m
8.50pm Al Rashidiya – Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,800m
9.25pm Handicap (TB) $65,000 (T) 1,000m
SPECS
Nissan 370z Nismo
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 363hp
Torque: 560Nm
Price: Dh184,500
Company profile
Name: WonderTree
Started: April 2016
Co-founders: Muhammad Waqas and Muhammad Usman
Based: Karachi, Pakistan, Abu Dhabi, UAE, and Delaware, US
Sector: Special education, education technology, assistive technology, augmented reality
Number of staff: 16
Investment stage: Growth
Investors: Grants from the Lego Foundation, UAE's Anjal Z, Unicef, Pakistan's Ignite National Technology Fund
Top investing tips for UAE residents in 2021
Build an emergency fund: Make sure you have enough cash to cover six months of expenses as a buffer against unexpected problems before you begin investing, advises Steve Cronin, the founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com.
Think long-term: When you invest, you need to have a long-term mindset, so don’t worry about momentary ups and downs in the stock market.
Invest worldwide: Diversify your investments globally, ideally by way of a global stock index fund.
Is your money tied up: Avoid anything where you cannot get your money back in full within a month at any time without any penalty.
Skip past the promises: “If an investment product is offering more than 10 per cent return per year, it is either extremely risky or a scam,” Mr Cronin says.
Choose plans with low fees: Make sure that any funds you buy do not charge more than 1 per cent in fees, Mr Cronin says. “If you invest by yourself, you can easily stay below this figure.” Managed funds and commissionable investments often come with higher fees.
Be sceptical about recommendations: If someone suggests an investment to you, ask if they stand to gain, advises Mr Cronin. “If they are receiving commission, they are unlikely to recommend an investment that’s best for you.”
Get financially independent: Mr Cronin advises UAE residents to pursue financial independence. Start with a Google search and improve your knowledge via expat investing websites or Facebook groups such as SimplyFI.
A QUIET PLACE
Starring: Lupita Nyong'o, Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou
Director: Michael Sarnoski
Rating: 4/5
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier
Results
UAE beat Saudi Arabia by 12 runs
Kuwait beat Iran by eight wickets
Oman beat Maldives by 10 wickets
Bahrain beat Qatar by six wickets
Semi-finals
UAE v Qatar
Bahrain v Kuwait
The specs: 2018 Renault Megane
Price, base / as tested Dh52,900 / Dh59,200
Engine 1.6L in-line four-cylinder
Transmission Continuously variable transmission
Power 115hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 156Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.6L / 100km
COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Eco Way
Started: December 2023
Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Electric vehicles
Investors: Bootstrapped with undisclosed funding. Looking to raise funds from outside
Five ways to get fit like Craig David (we tried for seven but ran out of time)
Start the week as you mean to go on. So get your training on strong on a Monday.
Train hard, but don’t take it all so seriously that it gets to the point where you’re not having fun and enjoying your friends and your family and going out for nice meals and doing that stuff.
Think about what you’re training or eating a certain way for — don’t, for example, get a six-pack to impress somebody else or lose weight to conform to society’s norms. It’s all nonsense.
Get your priorities right.
And last but not least, you should always, always chill on Sundays.
Company profile
Company name: Fasset
Started: 2019
Founders: Mohammad Raafi Hossain, Daniel Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $2.45 million
Current number of staff: 86
Investment stage: Pre-series B
Investors: Investcorp, Liberty City Ventures, Fatima Gobi Ventures, Primal Capital, Wealthwell Ventures, FHS Capital, VN2 Capital, local family offices
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
Reading List
Practitioners of mindful eating recommend the following books to get you started:
Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life by Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr Lilian Cheung
How to Eat by Thich Nhat Hanh
The Mindful Diet by Dr Ruth Wolever
Mindful Eating by Dr Jan Bays
How to Raise a Mindful Eaterby Maryann Jacobsen
Keane on …
Liverpool’s Uefa Champions League bid: “They’re great. With the attacking force they have, for me, they’re certainly one of the favourites. You look at the teams left in it - they’re capable of scoring against anybody at any given time. Defensively they’ve been good, so I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t go on and win it.”
Mohamed Salah’s debut campaign at Anfield: “Unbelievable. He’s been phenomenal. You can name the front three, but for him on a personal level, he’s been unreal. He’s been great to watch and hopefully he can continue now until the end of the season - which I’m sure he will, because he’s been in fine form. He’s been incredible this season.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s instant impact at former club LA Galaxy: “Brilliant. It’s been a great start for him and for the club. They were crying out for another big name there. They were lacking that, for the prestige of LA Galaxy. And now they have one of the finest stars. I hope they can go win something this year.”
Company Profile
Company name: Namara
Started: June 2022
Founder: Mohammed Alnamara
Based: Dubai
Sector: Microfinance
Current number of staff: 16
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Family offices
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Revibe
Started: 2022
Founders: Hamza Iraqui and Abdessamad Ben Zakour
Based: UAE
Industry: Refurbished electronics
Funds raised so far: $10m
Investors: Flat6Labs, Resonance and various others