New Chievo coach Eugenio Corini celebrates after starting his reign in charge with a win
New Chievo coach Eugenio Corini celebrates after starting his reign in charge with a win

European football round-up: Winning start for new Chievo manager Eugenio Corini



ITALY

Eugenio Corini enjoyed a winning start to his new role in charge of Chievo to end the Serie A strugglers' five-game losing streak.

A late strike from David Di Michele's secured a 2-1 success for Chievo over Sampdoria at the Stadio Bentegodi.

Corini replaced Domenico di Carlo earlier this week, although it seemed like he may have to settle for a point in his first match when Samp midfielder Enzo Maresca scored direct from a free-kick after Cyril Thereau had given Chievo a half-time lead.

But Di Michele tried his luck from distance and Sampdoria keeper Sergio Romero made a hash of his attempt to keep it out, gifting Chievo victory three minutes from time.

Meanwhile Gian Piero Gasperini made an emotional return to the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Palermo's 1-1 draw at former club Genoa.

Gasperini had led the side into the Europa League in 2009, spending over four years at the club, and he looked to be on course for three points tonight when Luigi Giorgi put Palermo ahead in the 14th minute.

Marco Borriello rescued a share of the spoils for Genoa seven minutes after the interval.

SPAIN

An Oscar Gonzalez header 10 minutes from time secured a 1-1 draw for Real Valladolid to deny 10-man Espanyol their first win of the season.

The visitors were dealt a blow when Victor Alvarez was sent off just before half-time, but defied their numerical disadvantage to take the lead through Joan Verdu's penalty.

Valladolid levelled the score 10 minutes later after Oscar headed home Patrick Ebert's corner.

Real Betis hit back from two successive league defeats by beating Real Sociedad 2-0.

Kick-off was delayed by 17 minutes at the Manuel Ruiz de Lopera Stadium because of a power failure.

Once proceedings got under way, Paulao headed the home side in front after 18 minutes and Ruben Castro made the game safe nine minutes from time.

Betis' night ended on a sour note with the dismissal of Mario for a second yellow card, but the points were already secure.

Getafe ground out a 1-0 win over nine-man Real Zaragoza thanks to Diego Castro's second-half penalty.

Ndri Romaric was shown a straight red card after just nine minutes, but it took until the hour mark for the visitors to go in front, when Alvaro Gonzalez became the second dismissal for tripping Pedro Leon and Castro scored from the penalty spot.

Getafe themselves were then reduced to 10 men for the final 10 minutes as Abdel Barrada also saw red but they held on.

Rayo Vallecano registered their first win in five games with a 2-1 result over Deportivo La Coruna.

The hosts were 2-0 up within half an hour through Piti and Jose Carlos.

Depor were then given a lifeline just before half-time when Pizzi converted a penalty, but they could not find an equaliser.

GERMANY

Bayern Munich made it seven wins out of seven, equalling their own Bundesliga record for consecutive victories at the start of a season, thanks to a routine 2-0 success over Hoffenheim at the Allianz Arena.

Franck Ribery scored both goals for the Bavarians, who are now just one win away from breaking a record they share with Mainz and Kaiserslautern.

Elsewhere, Felix Magath made an unhappy return to Gelsenkirchen as his Wolfsburg side were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Schalke.

Jefferson Farfan put high-flying Shalke in front in the 33rd minute and goals from Ibrahim Afellay and Roman Neustadter in the second half earned them all three points.

Hamburg made it 10 points in their last four games with victory over Greuther Furth, who slumped to their fourth home defeat.

Son Heung-min decided the game in the 17th minute with the Bavarians unable to find a response in a tense encounter.

Mainz also won 1-0 but they left it late to become the first side to beat Fortuna Dusseldorf in the Bundesliga this season.

Oliver Fink was shown a red card for the visitors in the 78th minute before Noveski struck five minutes from time to earn the hosts all three points.

Freiburg ended a two-game losing run to condemn Nurnberg to their fourth straight defeat with a 3-0 victory at the Dreisamstadion.

Cedric Makiadi's goal put the hosts in front in the 36th minute, before a penalty from Daniel Caligiuri and a late Marca Terrazzino strike wrapped up the win

FRANCE

Promoted Reims moved up to fourth place in Ligue 1 with a 3-1 victory over Nice.

Substitute Gaetan Courtet was the hero with goals in the 87th and 93rd minutes as Hubert Fournier's side recorded their fourth win in eight games since their elevation, leaving them four points behind leaders Marseille.

Diego had given Reims a first-half lead, which Dario Cvitanovich cancelled out shortly after the hour mark.

Reigning champions Montpellier's atrocious start to the season continued as Saber Khelifa and Stephan Andersen earned Evian a shock 3-2 win at the Stade De La Mosson.

Marco Estrada and Souleymane Camara overhauled Khelifa's opener to give the hosts a 2-1 half-time lead and raise hopes of only a third win in eight league games this season.

But Khelifa equalised and, after goalkeeper Andersen kept Evian on terms with a string of excellent saves, the Tunisia striker then completed his hat-trick two minutes from the end to inflict a fourth defeat on Rene Girard's men.

Lille recorded only their second league win of the campaign - and their first at the new Grand Stade Metropole - by beating Ajaccio 2-0.

Nolan Roux headed them in front three minutes before half-time and Ryan Mendes doubled their lead in the 56th minute.

Adrien Regattin grabbed a last-minute winner as Toulouse came from 2-0 down to draw with Valenciennes.

Foued Kadir and Carlos Sanchez scored inside the first quarter-hour for the visitors, who would have moved fourth with a win.

But the in-form Wissam Ben Yedder cut the deficit with his sixth of the season and Regattin's late strike earned a point for Toulouse.

There was another late goal at Bastia, where the home side edged out nine-man Troyes 3-2.

Rincon's own goal and Anthony Modeste's effort saw Bastia twice take the lead, only for Marcos to equalise on each occasion.

But Fabrice N'Sakala and Xavier Thiago were both sent off before Toifilou Maoulida grabbed an 88th-minute winner.

Mevlut Erdinc scored the only goal in the seventh minute as Rennes won 1-0 at Sochaux.

SCOTLAND

Hibernian moved to the top of the Scottish Premier League with a deserved 3-0 win over bottom club Dundee.

Eoin Doyle headed the home side into a first-half lead before Leigh Griffiths gave Hibs a comfortable advantage with an early second-half penalty.

David Wotherspoon completed the scoring with a calm finish 16 minutes from time.

Aberdeen went third as they came from behind to claim a 3-1 win at Kilmarnock.

The Dons conceded an early goal to Ryan O'Leary before going on to dominate the game with three second-half strikes securing a well-deserved win.

Two goals inside 11 minutes at the start of the second half from Gavin Rae and Niall McGinn put them ahead before a last-minute strike from Scott Vernon wrapped up the points for Craig Brown's side.

St Johnstone joined Aberdeen and Celtic on 14 points with a 2-1 win at home to St Mirren, their fourth successive league win.

Nigel Hasselbaink netted the opener against his former side after 22 minutes and Murray Davidson added a second nine minutes before the break.

St Mirren responded three minutes into the second half through Lewis Guy, but they could not find a leveller.

Motherwell missed their chance to go top after their match at home to Dundee United was called off because of a power failure.

HOLLAND

Wilfried Bony claimed a hat-trick but Vitesse missed the chance to take top spot in the Eredivisie as they were held to a draw by visiting Heerenveen.

Bony (53, 70) and Alfred Finnbogason (36, 63) cancelled out each other's efforts but Sven Kums' 74th-minute effort broke the pattern and gave the away side the lead.

Arnold Kruiswijk saw red for Heerenveen just three minutes later and Bony added his third from the penalty spot.

The point puts Vitesse level with FC Twente, having played one game more.

Heracles scored a 3-0 away win over second bottom PEC Zwolle, their second success of the season.

Samuel Armenteros got the ball rolling in the 14th minute before Ninos Gouriye took over with goals in the 68th and 81st minutes.

Roda JC also won 3-0 in their home clash against VVV Venlo.

Sanharib Malki was on target in each half, either side of Mark-Jan Fledderus' 54th-minute effort.

RKC Waalwijk drew 0-0 at Willem II.

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Kohli (c), Dhawan, Rahul, Shaw, Pujara, Rahane (vc), Karun, Karthik (wk), Pant (wk), Ashwin, Jadeja, Pandya, Ishant, Shami, Umesh, Bumrah, Thakur, Vihari

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.”