Jurgen Klopp says he believes, for now at least, that Liverpool's Champions League dream is over following Tuesday's 5-2 capitulation to Real Madrid that gave the title-holders a significant advantage ahead of the last-16 return leg in Spain next month.
Liverpool couldn't have wished for a better start, as Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah put the home side 2-0 up inside 14 minutes.
It ended with the Reds' worst ever European home defeat as a brace apiece for Vinicius Junior and Karim Benzema sandwiched an Eder Militao header at the start of the second half.
Put to Klopp that Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti said he could not say the tie was over, he said: “I think Carlo thinks the tie is over – and I think it as well in the moment.
“But in three weeks – that is how it is in these moments – the closer you get to the game, the bigger our chances become and the less likely that the tie is over.
“But tonight with a 5-2 when you see the game, they are pretty good in counter-attacking … we have to score there three goals and take some risks. That could be a bit tricky.
“But it’s really not in my mind so we go there, I can say that now already, and try and win the game.
“If that’s possible or not right now I don’t know but that’s what we will try and from there we will see.”
Liverpool v Real Madrid ratings
Liverpool head to Spain for the second leg on March 15 reeling from a humiliating loss, having become the first team in Champions League history to take a 2-0 lead and lose by a three-goal margin.
It is a result that could dent confidence in an already challenging campaign, but Klopp wants his players to focus on the positives.
“I can see that people think that, understandable, but that is actually not allowed,” the Liverpool boss said.
“I told the boys directly after the game so this is a different thing that happened today. One result that was opposite of what we wanted.
“We made mistakes around the goal, yes, as well and I said a couple of times a defeat is a defeat if you don’t learn from it.
“If you don’t learn tonight that the start of the game was outstanding and the way we played was us in a nutshell, us like we want to be, and that’s what we have to keep doing. If we now allow this one game to be influential, we are really silly.
“We have a few days where we’ll make sure that we take the right things out of this game.”
Tuesday's turnaround echoed the resolve and spirit Madrid showed in last year's knockout rounds on their way to lifting a record-extending 14th European Cup, where they beat Liverpool 1-0 in the final in Paris.
Before that they had to overturn a 4-3 deficit to Manchester City in the first leg of their semi-final before prevailing 3-1 at the Bernabeu to win the tie 6-5 on aggregate.
“Obviously we didn’t expect to start like we did but at 2-0 down I thought about the City away leg last year in the hope that we could do the same – but it turned out even better,” said Madrid boss Ancelotti.
“They were doing us damage down our left but when we were better in our attacks, we moved [Federico] Valverde a little bit towards that danger and we then defended better.”
Vinicius, 22, became the youngest player to score two goals against Liverpool at Anfield in one of Europe's leading competitions since Johan Cruyff for Ajax in 1966 when the Dutch great was 19.
The Brazil international is establishing himself as Madrid’s star player and, in the face of a typically daunting Anfield atmosphere, he rose to the occasion.
“Vinicius right now in my opinion is the most decisive player in world football, the man who can make the biggest difference, and if he can keep this consistency let’s hope he can continue in this vein,” Ancelotti said.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203S%20Money%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202018%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20London%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ivan%20Zhiznevsky%2C%20Eugene%20Dugaev%20and%20Andrei%20Dikouchine%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%245.6%20million%20raised%20in%20total%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Tank warfare
Lt Gen Erik Petersen, deputy chief of programs, US Army, has argued it took a “three decade holiday” on modernising tanks.
“There clearly remains a significant armoured heavy ground manoeuvre threat in this world and maintaining a world class armoured force is absolutely vital,” the general said in London last week.
“We are developing next generation capabilities to compete with and deter adversaries to prevent opportunism or miscalculation, and, if necessary, defeat any foe decisively.”
MATCH INFO
Liverpool 2 (Van Dijk 18', 24')
Brighton 1 (Dunk 79')
Red card: Alisson (Liverpool)
Gifts exchanged
- King Charles - replica of President Eisenhower Sword
- Queen Camilla - Tiffany & Co vintage 18-carat gold, diamond and ruby flower brooch
- Donald Trump - hand-bound leather book with Declaration of Independence
- Melania Trump - personalised Anya Hindmarch handbag
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.”
