ABU DHABI // Manchester City's record signing Robinho travelled with the squad to the UAE yesterday as the club hope his rehabilitation can be stepped up in the Emirates.
While Robinho is not expected to play any part in City's friendly with the UAE at the Zayed Sports City on Thursday evening, the presence of a player, who cost the club a British transfer record £32.5million (Dh200m) when he moved to Eastlands from Real Madrid 14 months ago, should increase interest in the match.
He was named in the Brazil squad to face England in their friendly in Doha this weekend but will be unable to feature due to a stress fracture of an ankle and City expect him to spend most of the week training with them in the capital. While in the Middle East, Robinho will fly to Qatar to be assessed by Brazilian national team doctors.
"Robbie is still recovering from injury and has accompanied the squad to continue his rehabilitation," said Brian Marwood, City's chief football operations officer.
"He will make the comparatively short trip to Doha to be assessed by Brazil team doctors before returning to Abu Dhabi to continue working with our club's fitness staff."
The rehabilitation work Robinho does in Abu Dhabi is likely to decide his availability for the crunch match against Liverpool - one of City's key rivals for a Champions League place - on November 21.
"We hope that Robinho's consultation with Brazil doctors along with the chance to train in a warm climate will facilitate his return to fitness in the shortest possible time," added Marwood.
The City squad for Thursday's friendly is youthful as several of the manager Mark Hughes's first-team players are on international duty.
Summer signings Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry, Joleon Lescott, Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor, as well as full-back Wayne Bridge and goalkeeper Shay Given, have all been selected to report for international duty and have not travelled to the capital.
City's depleted first-team will be represented by their top scorer this term, Craig Bellamy, as well as last season's Player of the Year Stephen Ireland, highly-rated English midfielder Michael Johnson and Zimbabwean striker Benjani Mwaruwari.
@Email:emegson@thenational.ae
What is Reform?
Reform is a right-wing, populist party led by Nigel Farage, a former MEP who won a seat in the House of Commons last year at his eighth attempt and a prominent figure in the campaign for the UK to leave the European Union.
It was founded in 2018 and originally called the Brexit Party.
Many of its members previously belonged to UKIP or the mainstream Conservatives.
After Brexit took place, the party focused on the reformation of British democracy.
Former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson became its first MP after defecting in March 2024.
The party gained support from Elon Musk, and had hoped the tech billionaire would make a £100m donation. However, Mr Musk changed his mind and called for Mr Farage to step down as leader in a row involving the US tycoon's support for far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson who is in prison for contempt of court.
'THE WORST THING YOU CAN EAT'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
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Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Brief scores:
Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first
Kerala Knights 103-7 (10 ov)
Parnell 59 not out; Tambe 5-15
Sindhis 104-1 (7.4 ov)
Watson 50 not out, Devcich 49
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
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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
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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OPINIONS ON PALESTINE & ISRAEL
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
SERIE A FIXTURES
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Saturday
Roma v Udinese (5pm)
SPAL v Napoli (8pm)
Juventus v Torino (10.45pm)
Sunday
Sampdoria v AC Milan (2.30pm)
Inter Milan v Genoa (5pm)
Crotone v Benevento (5pm)
Verona v Lazio (5pm)
Cagliari v Chievo (5pm)
Sassuolo v Bologna (8pm)
Fiorentina v Atalanta (10.45pm)
SQUADS
Bangladesh (from): Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mahmudullah Riyad, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, Taijul Islam, Mosaddek Hossain, Nayeem Hasan, Mehedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadat Hossain, Abu Jayed
Afghanistan (from): Rashid Khan (capt), Ihsanullah Janat, Javid Ahmadi, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Ikram Alikhil, Mohammad Nabi, Qais Ahmad, Sayed Ahmad Shirzad, Yamin Ahmadzai, Zahir Khan Pakteen, Afsar Zazai, Shapoor Zadran
Remaining fixtures
- August 29 – UAE v Saudi Arabia, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
- September 5 – Iraq v UAE, Amman, Jordan (venue TBC)
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5