Osame Sahraoui had been brought off the bench to safeguard a piece of history. His Lille were leading Real Madrid 1-0. Over the next 20 minutes he would contribute vitally to inflicting on the reigning European club champions their first defeat in 36 matches.
Sahraoui quickly put his stamp on an exhilarating Champions League contest. He’d been on the pitch five minutes, instructed to keep possession and threaten on the counter-attack. Back to goal, a little way inside the Lille half, he provided a deft cameo of how hard he can be to take the ball from. A neat pirouette spirited him away from a challenge from Madrid’s starlet Arda Guler and in the same smooth movement he eased clear of the veteran Luka Modric.
Seeing this, Jude Bellingham decided to play sheriff. With Guler and Modric left in his wake, Sahraoui had set off at pace towards Lille’s left flank. Bellingham chased, launching a thunderous sliding tackle. But Sahraoui’s feet were too quick, Bellingham booked for clattering, late, into the Lille man.
That was Wednesday night. Next morning, Sahraoui heard confirmation that his senior international career with Morocco was ready for lift-off, with his first call-up to Walid Regragui’s squad, following meetings between the Atlas Lions’ head coach and the player. There had been a complication to resolve because Sahraoui, born in Oslo to a family of Moroccan heritage, last year won a senior cap for Norway. That’s not enough to jeopardise his eligibility for Morocco, but there were the formalities of an official Fifa switch of national team to complete, a process the Moroccan Football Federation are well rehearsed in.
So it is that Sahraoui, who joined Lille in the summer – the latest step in a swift rise that has seen him move from Norway’s Valerenga to Heerenveen in the Netherlands and on to France and the Champions League all in the space of 18 months – has turned his back on the prospect of partnering Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard in the international arena to instead compete for a spot in attacking midfield for Morocco. He’ll be jousting for minutes in the months and years to come with the likes of Hakim Ziyech, who chose Morocco over his native Holland; with Brahim Diaz, who elected to play for the Atlas Lions rather than Spain; with Amine Adli, ex of France’s under-21s; and with Bilal El Khannouss, who said no to the overtures of Belgium in order to fly the flag for Morocco.
The list goes on, and it will extend further as Morocco tirelessly ensures that all the best eligible footballers in Europe’s large Moroccan diaspora are offered the opportunity to be part of a project with evident momentum. Its strongest impulse was the epoch-making 2022 World Cup, when Regragui’s team reached the semi-finals, a best ever finish for an Arab or African team at football’s ultimate competition, and the big lure is the enticing diary ahead. Morocco will stage the next Africa Cup of Nations, in 14 months time. They are well on course to be at the 2026 World Cup and will jointly host the 2030 edition.
Reda Belahyane has impressed for Verona this season. Getty Images
That distant horizon is very much in the minds of several younger footballers in the squad Regragui on Thursday named for this month’s matches, home and away, against Central African Republic, part of the Afcon qualifying programme, although, as hosts, Morocco are already guaranteed their spot in the finals. These games are thus an ideal opportunity for newcomers to gain competitive minutes. Besides Sahraoui, Adam Aznou, the 18-year-old full-back from Bayern Munich, has a chance to build on the full international debut he made last month, and there should be a first cap for Reda Belahyane, 20, the France-born midfielder who moved from Nice to Italy’s Verona earlier this year.
Regragui praised Belahyane by likening him, for his all-terrain industry, to Azzedine Ounahi, whose outstanding contributions at Qatar 2022 brought global attention. “Wow, where did this kid come from?,” exclaimed the then Spain head coach, Luis Enrique, after Ounahi had galvanised Morocco’s victory over his side at the last-16 stage. The answer was that Ounahi, like several of his star compatriots, emerged from the excellent Mohammed VI Academy, which remains as vital a source of talent for the national squad as all the European academies that have educated Morocco’s foreign-born players.
But nearly two years on, the pertinent question for Ounahi, and half a dozen of the feted World Cup players, is not so much where they came from, but where they have gone to since.
The answer to that is lengthy. One consequence of Morocco’s landmark success in Qatar was that their stand-out players attracted a stampede of transfer interest from leading clubs. A staggering number of that 2022 squad have changed employer since the tournament, sometimes more than once.
Ounahi left relegation-bound French club Angers for Marseille, but this summer Marseille loaned him to Panathinaikos. Sofyan Amrabat, Ounahi’s tireless midfield guardsman in Qatar, has fielded dozens of approaches, including from Barcelona. He eventually left Fiorentina for Manchester United, and then, in August, for Fenerbahce, both of those loan deals. At Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce, Youssef En-Nesyri, scorer of the goal that put Morocco in the last four of the World Cup, is now Amrabat’s colleague, having moved from Sevilla. Istanbul is also home to Ziyech, who endured the frustration of a move to Paris Saint-Germain falling through when his former club, Chelsea, failed to submit the required documents on time and he instead went to Galatasaray six months later.
All this movement has, at times, unsettled Regragui, who saw a clutch of his players preoccupied with possible winter transfers during last season’s Afcon, where a distracted Morocco fell short of expectations, knocked out before the quarter-finals.
It’s not clear that the movers’ trajectories have always been upwards, either. Ziyech, who along with Real Madrid’s Brahim is out of this month’s squad with injury, has lately struggled to command a first XI spot at Galatasaray. Amrabat had been keen to extend his stay at United, rather than join Fenerbahce. Ounahi was allowed to leave a Marseille who have begun the 2024/25 French league in fine form to join a club currently sitting eighth in the Greek top flight.
“The important thing for me is that they are playing regularly, and even if they haven’t joined clubs at the very top level, they are at big clubs,” said Regragui, who is largely loyal to the players who served him so valiantly in Qatar.
But he is also prepared to leave out stars. Amine Harit, of Marseille, who missed the World Cup with injury, is not included in his current squad. “He’s a player who wants to have a major role in the side and I don’t think will be happy with a place on the bench,” explained the Morocco head coach. “The door is always open to him but I have my vision and [for his midfield position] I have players of high potential in Ismael Saibari and El Khannouss.”
While El Khannouss has been used only sparingly by Leicester City, who he joined in August, Saibari, of PSV Eindhoven, is keeping elevated company. He has a goal to his name – against Juventus – already in this season’s Uefa Champions League, a competition where Eliesse Ben Seghir, the teenaged winger who rejected France’s approaches in order to play for Morocco, has also caught the eye for Monaco, notably in their victory over Barcelona.
On Wednesday it was Sahraoui’s turn, stylish and bold in Lille’s taming of Real Madrid on a special night for him and for his club colleague Ayyoub Bouaddi. He spent the evening of his 17th birthday battling with the likes of Modric and Bellingham and finishing on the winning side.
Bouaddi, born in France and an under-18 international for his native country, is also eligible for Morocco. He has plenty of time to decide on where he wants to commit his international future but Regragui has already been in touch, delivering a powerful, alluring message – that the Morocco teams of the long-term future look ever stronger than the 2022 version.
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.”
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
Can NRIs vote in the election?
Indians residing overseas cannot cast their ballot abroad
Non-resident Indians or NRIs can vote only by going to a polling booth in their home constituency
There are about 3.1 million NRIs living overseas
Indians have urged political parties to extend the right to vote to citizens residing overseas
A committee of the Election Commission of India approved of proxy voting for non-resident Indians
Proxy voting means that a person can authorise someone residing in the same polling booth area to cast a vote on his behalf.
This option is currently available for the armed forces, police and government officials posted outside India
A bill was passed in the lower house of India’s parliament or the Lok Sabha to extend proxy voting to non-resident Indians
However, this did not come before the upper house or Rajya Sabha and has lapsed
The issue of NRI voting draws a huge amount of interest in India and overseas
Over the past few months, Indians have received messages on mobile phones and on social media claiming that NRIs can cast their votes online
The Election Commission of India then clarified that NRIs could not vote online
The Election Commission lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police asking it to clamp down on the people spreading misinformation
The specs: 2018 Nissan Altima
Price, base / as tested: Dh78,000 / Dh97,650
Engine: 2.5-litre in-line four-cylinder
Power: 182hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 244Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Continuously variable tranmission
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6L / 100km
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE
Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood. Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues. Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity. Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
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
Day 3, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Just three balls remained in an exhausting day for Sri Lanka’s bowlers when they were afforded some belated cheer. Nuwan Pradeep, unrewarded in 15 overs to that point, let slip a seemingly innocuous delivery down the legside. Babar Azam feathered it behind, and Niroshan Dickwella dived to make a fine catch.
Stat of the day - 2.56 Shan Masood and Sami Aslam are the 16th opening partnership Pakistan have had in Tests in the past five years. That turnover at the top of the order – a new pair every 2.56 Test matches on average – is by far the fastest rate among the leading Test sides. Masood and Aslam put on 114 in their first alliance in Abu Dhabi.
The verdict Even by the normal standards of Test cricket in the UAE, this has been slow going. Pakistan’s run-rate of 2.38 per over is the lowest they have managed in a Test match in this country. With just 14 wickets having fallen in three days so far, it is difficult to see 26 dropping to bring about a result over the next two.
“One mistake people always make is adding extra wasabi. There is no need for this, because it should already be there between the rice and the fish.
“When eating nigiri, you must dip the fish – not the rice – in soy sauce, otherwise the rice will collapse. Also, don’t use too much soy sauce or it will make you thirsty. For sushi rolls, dip a little of the rice-covered roll lightly in soy sauce and eat in one bite.
“Chopsticks are acceptable, but really, I recommend using your fingers for sushi. Do use chopsticks for sashimi, though.
“The ginger should be eaten separately as a palette cleanser and used to clear the mouth when switching between different pieces of fish.”
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
