The King's Cup puts the wounds of Madrid and Barcelona in front of a risky test

Real Madrid will seek to erase memories of one of its most humiliating defeats in recent years when it meets Alquiano of the third division for the second year in a row in the round of 32 of the King's Cup on Wednesday.

Twelve months after Real's 2-1 defeat against the unknown, modest-budget team from a small town near Alicante, the team will return to the Alquiano stadium, which will be filled to the brim with 4,850 spectators.

Last year, the authorities prevented fans from attending Alquiano's victory due to restrictions to contain the Corona epidemic.

"If we do it this time, we can do it again," Alquiano captain Julie Cerda told a news conference. "We know that we will face Real, who feel a deep wound to their dignity. Maybe Real have learned the lesson, but this time our fans will be there and Real will face a completely different atmosphere."

Coach Carlo Ancelotti did not finish selecting the final squad for the match after confirming that Vinicius Junior, Ferland Mendy, Thibaut Courtois, Luka Modric and Karim Benzema will not go to the match.

Title holder

Barcelona, ​​the defending champion, will move to Andalusia to face another third-tier team, Linares Deportivo.

Coach Xavi Hernandez's team beat Mallorca 1-0 last Sunday, despite the absence of 14 players due to Covid-19, injuries and suspension, and he will have to rely again on a weak squad to revive his chances of defending the title.

Xavi had hoped for Pedri's return after a long absence due to injury, but this hope faded after the 19-year-old midfielder was infected with Covid-19.

"We will face a complicated task by playing in a small stadium and in a match where the loser will be eliminated from the competition. Every year first-class teams leave the competition, and we must be careful. We are the champions and we must repeat this achievement," Xavi told a news conference.

And on Thursday, Atletico will face its neighbor Rayo Majadahonda, belonging to the third division, at its Wanda Metropolitano stadium, which has a capacity of 68,000 spectators.

However, Majadahonda asked the Spanish Football Federation to move the match to a larger stadium because it usually hosts its matches at Atlético's 3,500-seater training ground.

The current regulations in Spain stipulate that stadiums with a capacity of more than 5,000 spectators must receive only 75% of the total capacity to limit the spread of Corona.

Christian Eriksen: I tried death for 5 minutes and I will play in the World Cup in Qatar

Danish player Christian Eriksen returned to the accident he suffered last summer and caught the attention of millions around the world, and talked about his goals in the near future after recovering and completing the treatment journey.

Eriksen fell unconscious on June 12 during the match between his country and Finland in the European Nations (Euro 2020) after suffering a heart attack that required urgent intervention from the medical team and was rushed to the hospital.

The Danish star spoke about that incident in an interview with a local channel broadcast tomorrow, Wednesday, and published a clip of it on his Twitter account.

"It's amazing that so many people want to write to me and send me flowers," the 29-year-old said. "The accident had a huge impact on so many and they wanted to pass on their feelings to my family. It was a strange feeling. I was dead for 5 minutes and I didn't think people would send that to me." Lots of flowers."

He added, "Everyone overwhelmed me with their kindness and support. I am receiving messages of support so far. I thank everyone, the doctors, my colleagues and their families, as well as the fans I meet on the street. I thank them all for their support."

Eriksen continued a calm and cautious treatment journey, and was able to resume playing after obtaining the green light from his doctors, knowing that he is now free after the termination of his contract with Inter Milan due to his inability to resume competition there, which prevents the participation of players carrying a pacemaker, such as the one who Eriksen took advantage of it.

And the player will have to choose his next destination in the coming days, amid reports that he will join a team from the English Premier League during the current winter transfer period.

On his plans, Eriksen said, "My goal is to play the World Cup in Qatar. It's been on my mind for a while. I'm sure I can come back because I don't feel any change."

Eriksen scored 36 goals in 109 matches with the national team, and he says, "I'm in good shape, I have to prove that I can reach my level. My dream is to join the national team and come back to play in Parken (the Copenhagen stadium where he had a heart attack). I want to show that what happened in nations Europe was unique. It will be up to the coach to judge my level, but my heart is not an obstacle anymore.

A car participating in the Dakar Rally was hit by an explosion in Saudi Arabia last week

French prosecutors said today, Tuesday, that a car competing in the Dakar Rally was subjected to an explosion in Saudi Arabia last week, and that they had opened an investigation into terrorism.

Prosecutors said in a statement that the explosion occurred on December 30 in the Saudi city of Jeddah. They added that five French nationals were in the vehicle and that the driver was seriously injured.

On January 1, the French news agency France Info reported that an explosion hit a support car used by the French racing team Sodecars.

France Info quoted race director David Castera as saying that the explosion occurred when the support car left the team hotel to head to the start of the race stage.

He said Philippe Butron, the team's co-driver, had a serious leg injury and had to be taken to hospital.

Lebanon's Joya Khairallah, the Asian champion in weightlifting, wins 4 gold medals

The dream has become a reality for the promising Lebanese young woman, Joya George Khairallah, twenty years old, from the town of Rachmia, Aley district, who raised the name of her country high in the world of physical sports after winning the Asian Weightlifting Championship, in the Junior category, which was recently held in Turkey And she won four gold medals, which she gave to her country, Lebanon.

Joya dreamed of participating in world championships since she was young, and set her eyes on her goal, which she reached on her own without anyone's help, but with the support and encouragement of her family, who trusted her high abilities and passion for practicing this type of sport, so her first participation in the World Championships in Sweden on 27 September, when she ranked sixth, and then repeated the victories and successes, so she headed to Dubai on December 10, and success was her ally, and she won the Arab Club Championship, up to December 27, winning the Asian Championship title and winning four gold medals, after she managed to excel within nine Categories of weights, not just their weight, and I collected the largest number of points within the “Squaz Punch” and “Deadlabuffe.”

Regarding her beginnings, Joya confirmed to "Al-Quds Al-Arabi" that she won several championships in Lebanon, including the Lebanese champion in physical strength "junior - 57 kg weight category," and held the record for females in Lebanon in the "Punch Press" and first place in the two "Barbell House" championships. for her category, and first place in the “Maxfit” championship for her category, to become one of the youngest female champions.

Joya expressed her happiness with this victory, which she considered "a message of hope once again with the capabilities and competencies of the Lebanese youth who struggle and struggle and do not know in their dictionary surrender despite the crises they are experiencing." She stressed, "This victory is a source of hope and joy in the midst of the oppression and suffering the country is going through," explaining that she "believes in her talent and her abilities to play the ball again in larger world championships. Accordingly, she will continue her training and exercises necessary to achieve victories, and she is currently working hard as a personal trainer to secure her expenses, her training expenses and other things she needs.”

My victory is a message of hope in the capabilities of the Lebanese youth who do not know how to give up

And about her choice of this type of sport, which is classified as for men more than for women, she indicated, “She continued the participation of one of her friends in the championship of this game in a club in Gemmayzeh. each other". She added, "She loved this atmosphere and wanted to try it, so it turned out that she had the ability, and so she set out and did the necessary exercises and worked on herself to participate in world championships."

Regarding her lack of fear of any bodily injury as a result of carrying weights, she confirmed, “Physical harm can occur in any kind of sports if we do not pay attention to ourselves, but the beauty of this sport is that you can increase the weights little by little, and gradually ascend the weights, and then it gets used to. Your body has to carry this higher and there is no harm because the body is used to it.” But she pointed out at the same time that "it must be done in a deliberate manner and not at a speed of 5 kilos jumping to fifty."

As for the message she sent to the Lebanese state and the Lebanese Federation for Weightlifting and Strength, she affirmed, “The Federation is striving to help as much as possible within the costs it can afford, and some of it and her family. As for the Lebanese state, it is completely absent. She blamed her, "because she does not look at these talents and does not support them, knowing that these talents are abroad and represent her country Lebanon," asking the Lebanese state, in the conclusion, in her name and in the name of these talents, "some support because this helps them a lot morally and helps them in their exercises more, so we can To get stronger, work better and raise Lebanon’s name high.”