• Newcastle United's Dan Burn celebrates scoring his team's second goal against PSG in their Champions League match at St James' Park on Wednesday, October 4, 2023. Reuters
    Newcastle United's Dan Burn celebrates scoring his team's second goal against PSG in their Champions League match at St James' Park on Wednesday, October 4, 2023. Reuters
  • Newcastle United's Dan Burn scores their second goal. Reuters
    Newcastle United's Dan Burn scores their second goal. Reuters
  • Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe looks distraught. Reuters
    Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe looks distraught. Reuters
  • Sean Longstaff of Newcastle United celebrates with Miguel Almiron after scoring the team's third goal. Getty
    Sean Longstaff of Newcastle United celebrates with Miguel Almiron after scoring the team's third goal. Getty
  • PSG's Lucas Hernandez after scoring their first goal. Reuters
    PSG's Lucas Hernandez after scoring their first goal. Reuters
  • Newcastle United's Sean Longstaff scores his side's third goal at St. James' Park. PA
    Newcastle United's Sean Longstaff scores his side's third goal at St. James' Park. PA
  • NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 04: Gianluigi Donnarumma of Paris Saint-Germain saves the clearance of Manuel Ugarte of Paris Saint-Germain during the UEFA Champions League match between Newcastle United FC and Paris Saint-Germain at St. James Park on October 04, 2023 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Stu Forster / Getty Images)
    NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 04: Gianluigi Donnarumma of Paris Saint-Germain saves the clearance of Manuel Ugarte of Paris Saint-Germain during the UEFA Champions League match between Newcastle United FC and Paris Saint-Germain at St. James Park on October 04, 2023 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Stu Forster / Getty Images)

Sport

Football

Newcastle United crush PSG for first Champions League win in two decades

Magpies prevail 4-1 in St James' Park on Wednesday

The National

October 04, 2023

  • English
  • Arabic

Newcastle United had a memorable return of the Champions League to St James' Park as Paris Saint-Germain were humbled 4-1 on Wednesday.

Miguel Almiron, Dan Burn, Sean Longstaff and Fabian Schar all scored as Newcastle made their first home game in Europe's elite competition for 20 years a night to remember.

The Parisians had no answer to the relentless hosts who raced into a 17th-minute lead through Almiron, before Burn powered a header home six minutes before the break to double Newcastle's advantage.

The crowd ensured there was no let up after the break, as Longstaff drilled a third under the arm of Gianluigi Donnarumma in the PSG goal five minutes into the second half.

A goal out of nowhere from Lucas Hernandez got the visitors back in it, before a stoppage-time fourth from defender Schar capped a stunning victory that moved Newcastle top of Group F on four points, one clear of PSG in second.

For PSG, Kylian Mbappe was relatively quiet on the latest tough night for the French champions in their first season since the departures of Lionel Messi and Neymar.

Fifth in the French league and facing a difficult task to qualify from a Champions League group also containing AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund, things aren’t going according to plan for PSG and new coach Luis Enrique this season.

Off to their worst Ligue 1 start of the Qatari era, PSG have now won just four of Luis Enrique's first nine games in charge.

However, the French champions did at least show some spirit to limit the damage.

Teenage midfielder Warren Zaire-Emery impressed in a daunting environment and his dink over the Newcastle defence was perfectly judged for Hernandez to head into the far corner.

Meanwhile, Ferran Torres scored after replacing the injured Robert Lewandowski to help Barcelona win 1-0 at FC Porto, while teenager Lamine Yamal became the youngest starter in the history of the Champions League.

Lewandowski was replaced by Torres after he hurt his left ankle when tackled by defender David Carmo. The Poland striker tried to play on, stopping to have his ankle taped, but he was still limping and eventually came off in the 34th.

Torres capitalised on the first major mistake by Porto when Romario Baro weakly hit a pass toward his defence and then stood by while Ilkay Gundogan raced past to pick up the ball and set up his forward to score the winner.

First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus 

Desert Warrior

Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley

Director: Rupert Wyatt

Rating: 3/5

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MATCH INFO

Manchester City 3 (Silva 8' &15, Foden 33')

Birmginahm City 0

Man of the match Bernado Silva (Manchester City)

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MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome

While you're here

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.”

Updated: October 04, 2023, 9:28 PM
Paris Saint-GermainNewcastle UnitedChampions League