MILAN // Carlos Tevez scored his second Serie A goal in as many weeks as champions Juventus thumped Lazio 4-1 to sit second in the early standings behind Napoli, 4-2 winners earlier at Chievo.
Juventus put four unanswered goals past Lazio on their way to winning the Italian Super Cup two weeks ago, when Tevez scored his maiden goal for the Bianconeri.
Having secured all three points for Antonio Conte's side in a 1-0 win over Sampdoria last week, the Argentine capped a dominant display by the hosts – marked notably by a brace from Chilean Arturo Vidal – with a fine individual effort in the 80th minute.
"Putting four goals past Lazio again is a sign that our form is getting better, both on a collective and individual level," said Antonio Conte, the Juventus manager.
"We were spectacular in the first 25 minutes in terms of intensity and execution of our gameplan. We were unlucky to concede the goal when we were leading 2-0."
Lazio started in positive fashion, Hernanes picking up a loose ball from Juve defender Andrea Barzagli to test Gianluigi Buffon with the 'keeper parrying for a corner.
But it served only to waken Juventus from their slumber and until Vidal's 14th minute opener they consigned the visitors to their own third of the pitch as they launched assault after assault.
Vidal broke the deadlock in style, timing his run onto Paul Pogba's sumptuous ball perfectly to beat a poor Lazio offside trap and then flick the ball past onrushing goalkeeper Federico Marchetti.
Barely 10 minutes later the Chilean attacking midfielder, Juve's top scorer last season, doubled the hosts' lead thanks to another well-timed move as Lazio's defence fell asleep.
This time, defender Leonardo Bonucci hit a long diagonal ball from midfield and Vidal, deep on the right flank, controlled with his right foot before sending the ball under the flailing Marchetti with his left.
Lazio reduced the arrears barely a minute later when Gianluigi Buffon pushed Hernanes's fierce 25-metre drive into the path of Miroslav Klose.
The big German striker rushed to get to the ball first ahead of Bonucci to shove it home and open his account for the season.
Minutes later Buffon was forced to punch the ball out for a corner after a stinging shot from Stefan Radu and Juve had the 'keeper to thank on the stroke of half-time when he parried another on-target effort from Hernanes.
Juve edged closer to sealing their second win of the campaign when Vucinic latched on to another inch-perfect long ball from Bonucci, beating Marchetti with a deft touch at the 'keeper's left-hand post.
Lazio's chances of taking anything from the match faded in the 63rd minute when Hernanes saw red for a second bookable offence, a blatant handball in the Bianconeri area.
Although Lazio produced several half-chances, Vladimir Petkovic's men never really threatened and Tevez virtually sealed the win 10 minutes from time.
A great pass from Vidal on the right flank was dummied by Vucinic and when Tevez took possession he turned Lorik Cana on the edge of the area before beating Marchetti with a well-placed low shot.
Earlier, Marek Hamsik scored his second brace in as many Serie A games and Gonzalo Higuain netted his first goal for Napoli as Rafael Benitez's side won 4-2 at Chievo.
Benitez hailed the "character" of the side he took charge of after new Walter Mazzarri left for Inter in the close season.
"The key to our success was the boys' character. This team has the strength to make amends for mistakes they make because, up front, we have huge potential," said the Spaniard.
On Sunday, Roma entertain Verona before Inter travel to Catania, Genoa face Fiorentina and AC Milan host Cagliari in the pick of the later matches.
Schalke 2 Leverkusen 0
Bayer Leverkusen blew their chance to go top of the Bundesliga on Saturday as they lost their 100 per cent record with a 2-0 defeat at resurgent Schalke.
Bayern Munich, the defending champions. stay top of the league despite dropping their first points of the season with a 1-1 draw at Freiburg on Tuesday before their dramatic 5-4 win on penalties over Chelsea in Friday's Uefa Super Cup final.
In the battle between the Bundesliga's other two Champions League representatives, Schalke hauled themselves up into mid-table and left Leverkusen joint-third behind Bayern and second-placed Dortmund, who are at Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
PSG 2 Guingamp 0
Paris Saint-Germain, the Ligue 1 champions, needed two stoppage-time goals to claim a 2-0 win over Guingamp at the Parc des Princes on Saturday, while Evian moved off the bottom of the table with a shock 2-1 victory over Lyon.
Having drawn with Montpellier and Ajaccio, Laurent Blanc's PSG side could ill-afford to fall further behind leaders Marseille, who host fellow title contenders Monaco on Sunday evening.
They left it late but finally prevailed thanks to strikes from Adrien Rabiot and Zlatan Ibrahimovic against their recently promoted visitors.
Osasuna 0 Villarreal 3
Villarreal continued to make a positive impression following their return to the Spanish Primera Liga, brushing aside Osasuna to maintain their 100 per cent start to the season.
Goals from Jeremy Perbet, Javier Aquino and Ikechukwu Uche made it three wins from three for the Yellow Submarine to lift the top-flight newcomers to the top of the standings.
PSV Eindhoven 0 Cambuur 0
PSV Eindhoven passed up the chance to move top of the Eredivisie standings on Saturday night as they were held to a 0-0 home draw by newly promoted Cambuur.
With surprise early leaders PEC Zwolle not in action until Sunday, when they host FC Utrecht, Phillip Cocu's second-placed side had the opportunity to steal a march.
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Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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'Laal Kaptaan'
Director: Navdeep Singh
Stars: Saif Ali Khan, Manav Vij, Deepak Dobriyal, Zoya Hussain
Rating: 2/5
RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
The biog
Favourite book: You Are the Placebo – Making your mind matter, by Dr Joe Dispenza
Hobby: Running and watching Welsh rugby
Travel destination: Cyprus in the summer
Life goals: To be an aspirational and passionate University educator, enjoy life, be healthy and be the best dad possible.
Florida: The critical Sunshine State
Though mostly conservative, Florida is usually always “close” in presidential elections. In most elections, the candidate that wins the Sunshine State almost always wins the election, as evidenced in 2016 when Trump took Florida, a state which has not had a democratic governor since 1991.
Joe Biden’s campaign has spent $100 million there to turn things around, understandable given the state’s crucial 29 electoral votes.
In 2016, Mr Trump’s democratic rival Hillary Clinton paid frequent visits to Florida though analysts concluded that she failed to appeal towards middle-class voters, whom Barack Obama won over in the previous election.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs
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