He may be about to play in the biggest match of his life, but Mohamed Salah is going to approach the Champions League final as if it is just another game.
The Egyptian ace has been the key man in Liverpool’s march to Saturday’s showdown in Kiev against Real Madrid, scoring 11 goals and setting up a further four. Added to that has been his dynamic domestic form with the 25-year-old’s 32 LePremier ague strikes setting a new record and helping him land a host of awards, among them the coveted PFA Player of the Year gong.
All that has piled the pressure on Salah ahead of the final. But if you thought that would get to him then think again, with the Liverpool talisman claiming he is going into the clash as he would any other match.
“I cannot put more pressure on myself so I just play a normal game for me,” Salah said at a press conference announcing he is the new DHL brand ambassador for the MENA region.
“Of course, it is different, it’s the final of the Champions League, but you have to take it easy, relax and enjoy the game.
“Every match is different, this is my first Champions League final so I am very excited. It is of course a very important game.
“But I am trying not to take it too seriously and not put myself under too much pressure, both for me as an individual and the team as a whole.”
It should perhaps come as no surprise to hear the Liverpool and Egypt star talk about the biggest game in club football in such understated terms. Salah’s 44 goals have all come with the kind of smile on his face which suggests he is playing with a freedom normally associated with a kid having a kickabout with his mates in the park. Added to that, Liverpool’s progression to the final has come virtue of a devil-may-care attitude that hints that passion rather than pressure is what has been on their mind every time they walk onto the pitch.
That philosophy has been instilled to them by their coach Jurgen Klopp. The German is revered as much by the players as by Liverpool’s fans and Salah is in no doubt as to how important he has been to his form and the team’s remarkable Champions League run.
“From day one we are friends, he treats me like a friend,” Salah said of Klopp.
“We are very close to each other but still he’s the coach and I am a player. He is a great man and as a coach you can see everyone loves him.”
Standing in the way of Salah and Co. from lifting Liverpool’s sixth European Cup are Real Madrid. While the Spanish giants have not hit the heights of previous campaigns, they stand on the verge of a third Champions League crown in a row, and, with Cristiano Ronaldo in fine form, will provide the Reds’ toughest test yet.
Such has been the heights he has hit this season that Salah has often been compared to Lionel Messi and Ronaldo, and touted to become the first player since 2007 other than that duo to win the Ballon d’Or. It is a comparison he has sought to distance himself from and once again he downplayed any idea that the final was a case of him verses the Portuguese star.
“He is a top-level player, but as he said he plays with his right foot and I play with my left,” Salah said.
“We are both focused on playing well in the final and trying to win it for our teams. All I can do is try hard and focus on doing well for Liverpool.
“I want to get to a higher and higher level, I am hoping to do well in the final and we are going to go there to do well in the final and to try and claim the trophy.”
Mohamed Salah viewing Champions League final against Real Madrid as ‘just another match’
Mohamed Salah viewing Champions League final against Real Madrid as ‘just another match’
- The Egyptian ace has been the key man in Liverpool’s march to Saturday’s showdown in Kiev against Real Madrid
- “Every match is different, this is my first Champions League final so I am very excited. It is of course a very important game”
Is this the UAE’s most climate-conscious sporting event?
- DP World ILT20 franchise Desert Vipers reduced carbon footprint of cricket match to a very rare low
DUBAI: The Desert Vipers have released a sustainability match report outlining the environmental impact of their headline sustainability fixture, saying it is possibly the lowest-emission professional sporting event ever held in the UAE.
Timed to mark World Environment Day, the report details how the Vipers, a founding team in the DP World International League T20, or ILT20, say they reduced the carbon footprint of a professional cricket match to just 30.86 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, translating per fan to a low 8.6 kg of CO2 equivalent, a rarity in global sport.
“While mega-events like the Paris 2024 Olympics (emitted 1.59 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent) and Euro 2024 (generated 490,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent) understandably carry large footprints due to international travel and scale, the Vipers’ match sets a benchmark in per capita emissions. At 8.6 kg CO2 equivalent per attendee, this may be among the most climate-conscious fan experiences in professional sport,” said Ben Hardy-Jones, head of sustainability and lead author of the report.
Hosted during season 3 of ILT20, the Vipers match featured: 100 percent recycled team and fan kits, made locally; hospitality menus free from red meat, with reduced dairy; biofuel-powered pitch machinery; fan travel emissions limited to under 11 percent of total footprint; water-awareness labelling in hospitality menus; a digital reach of 15.4 million and more than 265,000 engagements, amplifying the sustainability message, with virtually zero additional carbon impact.
“As one of ILT20’s founding franchises, we wanted to show how elite sport can lead on climate action without compromising experience,” said Phil Oliver, Desert Vipers CEO and recent Middle East CEO of the Year at the SPIA Awards. “This wasn’t just about lowering emissions, it was about setting a practical example others can follow.”
Though the match was a finalist at the Gulf Sustainability Awards 2024 in the “most sustainable event” category, the data and design of the match are now serving as a template for the wider sports sector, as the Vipers call on teams, leagues and venues to join them in transforming environmental standards.
“This isn’t a one-off stunt. It’s a model we’re evolving every season,” Hardy-Jones said. “Our report is open-source because we want change across the board, from stadium design to catering decisions. Sport has that power.”
With ILT20 season 4 launching on Dec. 2, the Desert Vipers say that they are planning deeper sustainability initiatives and calling on the global cricket community to help make sport a force for environmental good.
Ethara champions sports innovation and investment with landmark pitch in Abu Dhabi
- Eight founders presented startup projects to investors at an event at Yas Conference Centre
ABU DHABI: Ethara has launched its inaugural E1H Pitch, during which eight business founders presented their startup projects to investors at an event held at the Yas Conference Centre in Abu Dhabi.
The management company, which organizes some of the region’s biggest sporting events such as the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, UFC and the NBA games.
The event brought together more than 100 key stakeholders from sport, entertainment, government, and investment sectors to witness the unveiling of the regional startups hoping to secure funding for their development.
As the UAE’s first dedicated sports ecosystem and incubator, the Ethara 1TW Innovation Hub (E1H) was established to accelerate innovation and entrepreneurship in the UAE and the wider region by providing startups with access to expertise, commerce and capital.
The first E1H pitch was the culmination of a six-week program in which the eight early-stage ventures received strategic guidance and venture capital support to fast-track their development.
The event opened with keynote addresses from Mike Shapiro, head of ventures at City Football Group, and Mohamed Berrada, partner at Portas. Their insights into global sports investment and the future of digital fan engagement highlighted the UAE’s growing influence as a strategic base for sports tech and entertainment ventures. The session was hosted by sports broadcaster Chris McHardy.
“Innovation is at the heart of everything we do at Ethara,” said Saif Rashid Al-Noaimi, CEO of Ethara. “That’s why we created E1H with our partners at OneToWatch. We want to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to build new ventures that add value not just to Ethara but to Abu Dhabi’s global vision for sport and entertainment.”
The eight presentations attracted immediate interest from investors and highlighted strong potential for UAE-based growth.
Jamie Cunningham, founder of OneToWatch, added: “The UAE is no longer just hosting world-class events it’s now building the companies that will power them. E1H is unlocking entrepreneurial potential and connecting it directly to capital and opportunity. We’re proud to partner with Ethara and Abu Dhabi to help shape the next generation of global sports and entertainment ventures.”
E1H Cohort 1 startups
ArabsMMA – Zahi Ephrem
A marketer and martial artist, Zahi founded ArabsMMA, the first media platform dedicated to combat sports in the Middle East.
Athlyn – Ahmed Cheikh Omar
With 15-plus years’ experience in the UAE sports and corporate sectors, Omar’s platform bridges sport and corporate engagement.
Esportian – Ivan Kerkoc
A Spanish university professor and former NCAA recruiter, Kerkoc founded Esportian to merge traditional sports and esports education.
Icosium Technologies – Billel Boudouma and Mohamed Ali
This venture blends robotics, artificial intelligence, and human experience to deliver real-world micro-automation solutions.
MyParkBuddy – Daniel Hachem
Daniel aims to revolutionize urban mobility through smart parking solutions, drawing on his engineering and entrepreneurship expertise.
Neoma – Francois Chabaudie
With a background in private equity and consulting, Chabaudie created Neoma to improve human interactions through smart environments.
The Mettleset – Dawn Barnable
A seasoned communicator and endurance athlete, Dawn founded The Mettleset to tell meaningful stories through the lens of sport.
E1H Venture Studio, Greenlight Abu Dhabi Branding (GADB) – Robert Angelieri
An event operations expert, Robert drives innovation in sustainable events through branding, logistics, and venue strategy.
Five challenges Ancelotti faces as Brazil reign kicks off
- The 65-year-old Italian led his first training session on Monday in Guayaquil, Ecuador, ahead of what should be his first match, if his move from Real Madrid passes scrutiny by football’s governing body FIFA
- The top six in the 10-team group qualify directly for the World Cup. Brazil are fourth, six points clear of Venezuela in seventh with four matches to go
SAO PAOLO: After a warm welcome to Brazil, Carlo Ancelotti, the Selecao’s first foreign coach in more than 50 years, is on a mission to fix a stuttering team and win back fans which starts on Thursday against Ecuador in a World Cup qualifier.
The 65-year-old Italian led his first training session on Monday in Guayaquil, Ecuador, ahead of what should be his first match, if his move from Real Madrid passes scrutiny by football’s governing body FIFA.
AFP identifies five issues Ancelotti faces:
“The only goal is to win the 2026 World Cup,” said Ancelotti when he took the job. First he has to get there.
The South American group is a two-year, 18-match marathon. Brazil’s campaign has included a first-ever home World Cup qualifying defeat, 1-0 at the Maracana to old enemy Argentina, part of a run of three straight defeats in 2023 that ended the coaching reign of Fernando Diniz.
Their last match was a 4-1 humiliation in Argentina in March that finished off former coach Dorival Junior. Yet the format is forgiving.
The top six in the 10-team group qualify directly for the World Cup. Brazil are fourth, six points clear of Venezuela in seventh with four matches to go.
Ecuador may be second in the group, but are only two points ahead of Brazil, who then host Paraguay, who are fifth.
Qualifying ends in September with a visit to last-place Chile and a home game against struggling Bolivia.
Brazil is still churning out dazzling attackers but the production line has stalled on No. 9s. In this century, Romario, Ronaldo and Adriano have all led the attack and banged in the goals.
The nearest player to a classic No. 9 in Ancelotti’s first squad is a player he coached at Everton, Richarlison, now of Tottenham.
Yet Ancelotti has won without a central striker before. His 2024 Champions League winning side was led by two Brazilians: Vinicius Jr, who is in Ancelotti’s squad, and Rodrygo, who he did not select. Ancelotti also has Raphinha of Barcelona, who was joint top scorer in this season’s Champions League.
A bigger problem might be supplying the attackers, veteran Brazilian football journalist Juca Kfouri told AFP.
With Brazil’s youth academies focusing on defensive midfielders and quick wingers rather than classic creators, the Selecao faces a shortage of ideas in midfield.
In Brazil’s last two outings Dorival Junior tried Bruno Guimaraes, Gerson, Andre and Joelinton in the role. None convinced.
At Madrid, Ancelotti “had Toni Kroos as a supply line for Vini. Brazil does not have a Toni Kroos,” said sports writer Tim Vickery on his ‘Brazilian Shirt Name’ podcast.
Ancelotti has recalled Kroos’s former Real Madrid midfield partner Casemiro, although the 33-year-old now with Manchester United is primarily a defensive player to add, the coach said, “charisma, personality and talent.”
The supply of swashbuckling fullbacks, such as Carlos Alberto, Cafu and Roberto Carlos — another hallmark of great Brazil teams — has also dried up.
Ancelotti has recalled Carlos Augusto, part of the Inter Milan team crushed in the Champions League final, and picked Flamengo duo Wesley Franca and Alex Sandro after seeing them play last week in a 1-0 victory over Venezuelan team Deportivo Tachira in the Copa Libertadores.
Ancelotti needs to rebuild the bond between the team and the public. Part of the problem is that after Brazil won five World Cups playing — mostly — the “jogo bonito” (the beautiful game), fans have little patience with mediocrity.
But many supporters have been turned off by the way the famous yellow jersey has been hijacked as a symbol by supporters of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.
“This issue of the extreme right appropriating the jersey has distanced part of the country,” said Kfouri, adding Ancelotti called on the fans when he took the job saying, “I hope to have the support and help of the country.”
Whether ratings are good or not, Thunder-Pacers could be a series true basketball fans enjoy
- The ratings, especially at the start of the series, probably aren’t going to be good because the home markets are so small
- The social media tracking site Videocites says NBA content is getting consumed at a 64 percent higher clip than last season — 32 billion views and counting so far in these playoffs
OKLAHOMA CITY: It’s No. 25 Indiana vs. No. 47 Oklahoma City in the NBA Finals.
That’s not their seeding. That’s their media market ranking. To some, that might matter. To others, it probably won’t — and probably shouldn’t — matter whatsoever.
A title matchup that starts Thursday night between the Pacers and Thunder — two young, fun teams that score a ton and are led by marketable stars in reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for Oklahoma City and Olympic gold medalist Tyrese Haliburton for Indiana — is the type of series that real basketball fans clamor for. It has everything: star power, good coaching, All-Stars on both sides. And it adds to the NBA’s recent run of parity.
That’s the good news. Here’s the inevitable other side: The ratings, especially at the start of the series, probably aren’t going to be good because the home markets are so small. Those who like the NBA won’t be dissuaded by that. Those who don’t like the NBA will tout it as great failure.
“I think this finals is a great representation with the two teams that are in it,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “You know, they’re teams that play good, exciting styles of basketball. Players that have great individual stories, teams that have a great story collectively. And we’re proud to be a part of that.”
People are watching; they just may not be watching on television. The social media tracking site Videocites says NBA content is getting consumed at a 64 percent higher clip than last season — 32 billion views and counting so far in these playoffs. Gilgeous-Alexander is the most viewed player, Haliburton is No. 3 and playoff clips of those two have about 1.5 billion views between them to this point.
That’s billion, with a B. And speaking of that, there are 76 billion reasons the NBA won’t be bothered by whatever the ratings are over the next couple of weeks.
The new media rights deals — an 11-year, $76 billion pact between the NBA and broadcast partners Disney (ABC/ESPN), Peacock (NBC) and Amazon (Prime Video) that kicks in at the start of next season — show that clearly somebody is watching NBA games or consuming NBA content. The days of straight relying on Nielsen ratings seem to be long gone, with more and more people ditching cable for streaming and more and more young fans just watching everything on their phones and often in condensed versions.
If the ratings tank for Pacers-Thunder, those deals are still worth $76 billion. The ad buys for these playoffs have long been paid for. So, the numbers for this series are largely irrelevant to the NBA’s bottom line.
Haliburton was asked Tuesday what fans who watch will see if they tune in to these finals.
“I think (they’ll see) two high-level teams that play an elite style of basketball, who share the ball really well, a lot of different people that can chip in,” Haliburton said. “I think that’s the exciting part about this. I don’t want to say it’s like a passing of the torch because the old heads are still here. They’re still playing very, very well. But definitely to see two young teams, two young organizations, fighting to win a championship, I think is a very big deal.”
Late in the regular season, as numbers were bouncing back from a slow start to the season, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league’s ratings were down about 2 percent from a year ago.
“But in this environment, where particularly when you’re largely featured in legacy media and particularly cable, and no question cable subscriptions are going down, that seems like a victory,” Silver said.
In short, nobody at the league office is panicking about ratings, especially right now. Whichever team wins will be the seventh different champion in the last seven seasons, and without question the Thunder and Pacers will be featured in more national broadcasts next season than they were this season and their ratings will be higher — as proven by recent finals runs by Milwaukee, Denver and Dallas. Go ahead and expect Indy and OKC in the Christmas Day package next season as well; neither team was among the 10 picked for that this season, which was probably a mild disappointment for the Pacers and was a huge disappointment for the Thunder.
“I’d love to play on Christmas Day,” Gilgeous-Alexander said earlier this season. “And I think we’re that caliber of team. The NBA makes their decisions. Can’t slight them for it. Ball’s in our court to prove to them why we deserve to be in that game.”
It can easily be argued that both teams did it right: didn’t overspend, didn’t go into the luxury tax — it’s the first finals between two non-taxpayer teams in about two decades — and tried to build around young stars.
And the Thunder and Pacers were teams that combined to win 49 games just three seasons ago; their success now has to be a reason for hope for teams like Utah, Washington, Portland, Charlotte and others that have been sputtering. Turnarounds can happen, and they can be rewarded. Some people will watch, some won’t, but true fans probably are expecting a pretty good series.
“I think that’s exciting,” Haliburton said, “for any basketball fan.”
Spain into last four of Women’s Nations League after 2-1 win over England
- The win moved Spain to 15 points from six games, five ahead of England.
- Sweden raced out to a 3-0 lead after 11 minutes against Scandinavian neighbors Denmark, eventually winning 6-1 to book the remaining spot in the Nations League semifinals
BARCELONA: Spain’s Claudia Pina came off the bench and scored twice as the reigning Nations League champions came back from a goal down to beat England 2-1 on Tuesday and claim victory in Group 3, booking their spot in the last four of this year’s competition.
With Germany and France having already secured victory in Groups 1 and 2 respectively and Euro 2025 only a month away, world champions Spain and European champions England met to decide their group in an intriguing clash of styles.
Spain piled the pressure on from kickoff, striker Esther Gonzalez forcing England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton into a superb one-handed reflex save early on, and the England defense struggled to deal with the slick passing and movement of the hosts.
However, Alessia Russo gave the visitors the lead against the run of play in the 22nd minute. With the Spaniards pleading for a free kick for what they saw as a foul on Salma Paralluelo, Keira Walsh played the ball in behind for Russo, and she scored with a well-taken finish.
Rocked by the goal, the hosts had plenty of possession but created little in the way of dangerous chances until Pina entered the fray in the 58th minute. She equalized less than two minutes later by flashing a shot across Hampton and into the net as England were punished for losing possession when trying to play out from the back.
With Euro 2025 due to start in a month’s time, the 23-year-old Pina staked her claim for a starting spot by getting the winner 10 minutes later, curling home a brilliant dipping effort that left Hampton helpless. The win moved Spain to 15 points from six games, five ahead of England.
England captain Leah Williamson was disappointed with the result and noted that there was work for her side to do ahead of the Euros.
“We didn’t have any real threat. Under that much pressure against the top sides, that’s what happens. We just have to be better on the ball and find solutions quicker. A great lesson,” she said.
“We know what we are capable of. The game changes constantly, we have to adapt a bit quicker. We have time to build and time to push ourselves before the start of the tournament.”
In the evening’s other decisive game, Sweden raced out to a 3-0 lead after 11 minutes against Scandinavian neighbors Denmark, eventually winning 6-1 to book the remaining spot in the Nations League semifinals by winning Group 4 with 12 points, two ahead Italy, who thrashed bottom side Wales 4-0.
