Archives for September 2023

Cristiano Ronaldo has been greeted by extraordinary scenes in Iran with hundreds of fans chasing the Al-Nassr bus and then storming the team’s hotel to catch a glimpse of him.

The Saudi Arabian club are set to play Tehran-based side Persepolis in their opening AFC Champions League group stage fixture on Tuesday night and they’ve had quite the welcome.

Videos released on Al-Nassr’s X feed showed fans running down the road in pursuit of their yellow team coach as excitement ahead of the fixture reaches fever pitch.

Fans young and old were spotted holding up Ronaldo posters and wearing Ronaldo shirts as the Portuguese superstar prepares to play in the Iranian capital.

In other social media videos, hundreds of local fans could be seen rushing inside the lobby of the hotel where Al-Nassr are staying while chanting ‘Ronaldo, Ronaldo’.

Hundreds of excited fans chased the Al-Nassr team bus as they tried to catch a glimpse of star Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of the Saudi club’s Asian Champions League game with Persepolis

Videos posted on social media by Al-Nassr showed the extraordinary welcome in Tehran

Sporting sunglasses and clasping some roses, Ronaldo makes his arrival at Tehran Airport

The Portuguese star looked delighted to receive a Persian rug from Persepolis as a present

Ronaldo was seen smiling as he was escorted up to his room at the Espinas Palace Tehran by security guards followed by the remainder of the Al-Nassr squad and their staff.

An entire floor has been set aside for the Al-Nassr party with a suite reserved for Ronaldo.

In a slightly less chaotic moment, Ronaldo was presented with a traditional Persian rug shortly after touching down at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport and looked thrilled with the gift.

Another present to the Al-Nassr party will come in the form of special SIM cards which will allow them to access the internet without restrictions during their stay.

This is something Iranian citizens cannot do with thousands of websites and all global messaging services and social media blocked.

Tuesday’s match at the 78,000-capacity Aazdi Stadium does come with some regrets for the locals, however, because it will be played behind closed doors.

This relates to a one-match stadium ban handed down to Persepolis for a social media post ahead of their match with Indian club FC Goa during the 2021-22 season.

يخرب بيت الحماس والقشعريرة نطالب الاتحاد الاسيوي يشيل العقوبة دخلوا الفندق 🤯🤯💛 pic.twitter.com/fyvJ3UCkM4

— Ali (@11l_p)

Hundreds of fans stormed the lobby of the hotel where Cristiano Ronaldo is staying

Fans chanted ‘Ronaldo, Ronaldo’ as they strained to catch a glimpse of their hero

The now deleted post cited Iran’s invasion of India (in 1738-1740) and historic battles between the two countries to spur their team on ahead of the group stage meetings with Goa.

The message offended people in India and their football association formally lodged a complaint with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which handed Persepolis the ban.

They didn’t play in continental competitions last season, so the ban will now be served – as their bad luck would have it – for the visit of Al-Nassr and Ronaldo.

In recent days, Persepolis fans have been commenting with apologies on FC Goa Instagram posts in a bid to get the ban overturned at the last minute.

Ronaldo talks to Persepolis officials as he is presented with a traditional carpet as a present

Ronaldo takes a look at his welcome present after touching down in Tehran on Monday

But as it stands, the match will be played with no spectators in attendance, which may explain the crazy scenes when Al-Nassr arrived.

Al-Nassr are the first Saudi club to visit Iran in seven years. Tensions have often been high between the two countries but a deal brokered by China in March restored ties.

It comes as five American prisoners sought by the United States flew out of Tehran on Monday as part of a deal that saw nearly $6billion [£4.85bn] in Iranian assets unfrozen.

Despite the deal, tensions between the two countries remain high amid various disputes, including over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

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Cristiano Ronaldo receives a crazy welcome in Iran as hundreds of fans chase the Al-Nassr team bus and storm their hotel ahead of Asian Champions League game with Persepolis… but the star looks thrilled with his welcome gift!

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Jurgen Klopp has argued that TV companies don’t care about player welfare after his side were given another punishing early kick-off on their return from international duty.

Liverpool had six 12.30pm Saturday starts last season and didn’t win a single one of them, taking just three points from 18 – and Klopp described the situation as “a joke”. The German boss pointed to the fact that he faces another early Premier League game, with his large South American contingent returning from international duty on Friday morning, just a couple of hours before the squad departed for the visit to Wolves.

Incredibly, the trip to Wolves will be the 12th Saturday lunchtime kick-off Liverpool have had immediately after an international break since he arrived at Anfield, three times as many as Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City have faced in the same period.

And he said on Friday: “If I say a word about it then the world says, ‘He’s moaning again’. It is a joke. We had four players in South America who I haven’t even seen yet. In 24 hours we play Wolves.

“We have four international breaks by March and for two of them we already have the 12.30 kick-off (immediately afterwards). But we cannot change it. We will never change that, whoever we talk to.

“Now the TV channel has a different name, but obviously it doesn’t change anything at all. They don’t give a… so why should I talk about that? We didn’t think about it.”

Klopp had four key players in Alisson, Alexis Mac Allister, Darwin Nunez, and Luis Diaz all flying back into the UK as late as 9am on Friday.‌ And he explained he is not against the 12.30 Saturday kick off as a whole, just when they come so soon after a midweek fixture.

Twitter)

He added :”It’s not a problem if you have a normal week, we’ve always said that – It’s easy to adapt, the only problem is lack of recovery time.”

Indeed, Klopp has made no secret of his feelings on early kick-offs and previously said back in April: “It’s just not OK. If we play a Champions League semi-final, if you find another league in the world and another broadcaster where they put one team who is in the semi-final, might be two, might be three English teams, on a 12.30… what?

“What are you doing? Why would you do that? So that’s why it’s so difficult [to win four trophies], but nothing happens because nobody cares.” He then added: “The league and the broadcaster really have to try at least to help. We will see. I haven’t heard anything yet. Nobody from BT contacted me yet.”

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Taylor Swift was dancing, drinking, and just generally having the time of her life at the 2023 VMAs, and yes, now everyone wants to party with her.

Akshay Kumar gave a perfect birthday gift to his fans and himself on his 56th birthday on Saturday, September 9, as he announced his return to the Welcome franchise with the threequel Welcome To The Jungle and shared a star-studded promo announcing film’s release date as December 20, 2024, which means five days before Christmas next year.

Apart from Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty, Arshad Warsi, Paresh Rawal, Johnny Lever, Rajpal Yadav, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Krushna Abhishek, Kiku Sharda, Daler Mehndi, Mika Singh, Rahul Dev, Mukesh Tiwari, Sharib Hashmi, Inaamulhaq, Zakir Hussain, Yashpal Sharma, Raveena Tandon, Lara Dutta, Jacqueline Fernandez, Disha Patani, and Vrihi Kodvara are a part of the threequel.

The upcoming comedy is produced by Jio Studios and Firoz A. Nadiadwallah and directed by choreographer and filmmaker Ahmed Khan, who has previously helmed films such as Lakeer, Fool & Final, Baaghi 2, Baaghi 3, and Heropanti 2.

Welcome (2007) and Welcome Back (2015) were directed by Anees Bazmee. While the first one turned out to be a cult classic, the second one, which had John Abrahman replacing Akshay in the lead, bombed at the box office.

Christmas 2024 might see a triple mega clash at the box office as Aamir Khan and Salman Khan are also considering to pick the same date, December 20 next year, for their upcoming films. 

There have been reports that Aamir Khan has locked the film, with which he is all set to make his acting comeback after the Laal Singh Chaddha debacle and he wants to release it on Christmas next year as his multiple blockbusters such as 3 Idiots, PK, Dangal, and Dhoom 3 have had their releases during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Salman Khan’s next film after Tiger 3 is a massive action-packed entertainer being produced by Karan Johar and directed by Vishnu Vardhan. Vishnu made his Bollywood debut with the massively acclaimed 2021 war drama Shershaah, starring the real-life couple Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani. 

There hasn’t been an official announcement made by Aamir Khan and Salman Khan yet. Akshay Kumar has played the first move and now, the ball is in the court of the Andaz Apna Apna stars.