In the last minute of the 76th hour Luka Modric has been active in competitive football this season, he looked down at the penalty spot in Rotterdam’s De Kuip stadium. He glanced up briefly at the target, and with a short, efficient run-up, sent the goalkeeper the wrong way.
The contest was deep into extra-time. Modric’s penalty had completed a comeback from a goal down, and from a 96th-minute Netherlands equaliser. It was Croatia’s fourth goal of a long, warm evening and they had eliminated the hosts of the Uefa Nations League finals.
It means Modric will lead his country into Sunday’s gold medal match against Spain, chasing that elusive international trophy that is the lone gap on his vast catalogue of honours.
It is five years since Modric inspired a nation of less than four million people by leading Croatia to a World Cup final, and six months since Croatia finished third at the 2022 tournament. In less than three months’ time, their captain will celebrate his 38th birthday.
A few hours after Modric’s heroics, Real Madrid, his club, were unveiling Jude Bellingham, their marquee summer signing, hired at an initial €103 million from Borussia Dortmund, a fee that if the midfielder reaches certain targets could rise over the next six years by around €30m.
As it is, Bellingham has become the second most expensive footballer in Madrid’s history, overtaking the sums paid for Cristiano Ronaldo 14 summers ago, and Gareth Bale, Bellingham’s fellow Briton, a decade back.
The club assume their investment in Bellingham, an England international, yields better dividends than the €115m they paid for Eden Hazard in 2019. The Belgian has just left Madrid, contract cancelled, after a forlorn, injury-hit stay spent mostly as a bystander to the gradual transitions Madrid are now enacting with vigour, a generational shift framed by Modric at one end, and Bellingham at the other.
Almost 20 years divide the pair in age. Bellingham is still a teenager, at least for one more week of his fast-tracked life, so precocious that in less than three years since making his senior professional debut for Birmingham City in the English Championship, he had been named Player of the Year in the German Bundesliga. He has already starred at a World Cup. “He will become the best midfielder in the world,” predicts Manchester City’s Phil Foden, Bellingham’s England teammate.
Modric has spent the best part of two decades as a compulsory part of any conversations about who might be the game’s best creative midfielder. But approaching his 39th year, is obliged to wonder for how much longer he remains in that category. He has spent recent weeks contemplating whether or not, with strong interest in him from the Saudi Arabia Pro League, he commits to a 12th season at Madrid, with his contract up at the end of this month.
The expectation is that he will continue in Spain for at least another year. Sunday’s display in Rotterdam confirmed his evergreen quality, replicating the sorts of masterly showings in high-stakes fixtures madridistas regard as standard. It was Modric who was brought down for the penalty that Andrej Kramaric converted to answer Donyell Malan’s first-half strike for the Dutch. Modric was involved in the goal, from Bruno Petkovic, that put Croatia 3-1 up in extra-time.
Zlatko Dalic, the former Al Ain coach who has had Croatia consistently punching above their weight over the last six years, took Modric off once the skipper had sealed the outcome, with a minute left of the two hours of ebb-and-flow – an invitation to the crowd to applaud a genius of the modern game.
Sunday’s final will be Modric’s 70th match, club and country combined since the beginning of June 22, an odyssey that took him across Europe in Madrid’s defence of the Champions League, ending with the semi-final defeat to Manchester City, through seven World Cup games in Qatar, to Saudi Arabia for the Spanish Super Cup, and to Morocco for a victorious Club World Cup.
Modric’s stamina is just one among the many virtues Bellingham yesterday cited as “invaluable”. The Englishman says he intends to stick close to Modric and his long time partner in Madrid’s midfield, Toni Kroos, when Madrid gather for pre-season training. “Their experience and the way they read games is incredible,” said the new signing, the prodigy earmarked to one day fill the role of the peerless Modric.
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
World Sevens Series standing after Dubai
1. South Africa
2. New Zealand
3. England
4. Fiji
5. Australia
6. Samoa
7. Kenya
8. Scotland
9. France
10. Spain
11. Argentina
12. Canada
13. Wales
14. Uganda
15. United States
16. Russia
THE BIO
Favourite author - Paulo Coelho
Favourite holiday destination - Cuba
New York Times or Jordan Times? NYT is a school and JT was my practice field
Role model - My Grandfather
Dream interviewee - Che Guevara
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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UAE cricketers abroad
Sid Jhurani is not the first cricketer from the UAE to go to the UK to try his luck.
Rameez Shahzad Played alongside Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett in Durham while he was studying there. He also played club cricket as an overseas professional, but his time in the UK stunted his UAE career. The batsman went a decade without playing for the national team.
Yodhin Punja The seam bowler was named in the UAE’s extended World Cup squad in 2015 despite being just 15 at the time. He made his senior UAE debut aged 16, and subsequently took up a scholarship at Claremont High School in the south of England.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
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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.”
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
RESULTS
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final second leg:
Juventus 1 Ajax 2
Ajax advance 3-2 on aggregate
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Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
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Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
