When former Real Sociedad manager David Moyes went on a scouting mission at Eibar a year ago, he was shocked by what he saw.
“An eye-opener,” said the Scot. “One that destroys the myths of Spanish football. They don’t talk about tika-taka in Eibar. The rain was torrential; it could have been a game in the north of Scotland. I went to watch two La Liga teams but it was like going to a Conference ground, with small stands.
“Their ground only holds 5,000. It’s a great story, though. Eibar were promoted two years in a row and are doing just fine in the top flight with largely the same team. They have two big centre-halves and two big forwards. These are the stories you want to see in football and as a football man I loved it.”
Eibar have constructed another stand since Moyes visited, upsetting neighbours who once enjoyed an unimpeded view of the tiny Ipurua Stadium. The capacity is still only 6,200, with no room to expand on a mountainside.
[Weekend preview: Team news, fixtures and kick-off times for La Liga]
It is a challenge driving up to Ipurua in a car, yet Real Madrid’s team coach on Sunday will climb out of the Basque town of 27,000, past a mural of “Scotland the Brave” into the tiny car park.
Madrid are not popular in the Basque Country and they will get a hellish reception at a place where fans are so close to the players that they can almost touch them. Two hundred local musicians will play Eibar’s anthem before the game, an encounter where Rafa Benitez’s team aim to get back on track in the league after their 4-0 clasico humiliation at home.
Eibar stayed up last season only because Elche were relegated following financial irregularities, but they have started exceptionally well and sit sixth and in a European spot. Beat Madrid and they go a point behind them. David can almost catch Goliath, but another defeat for Madrid is implausible.
Club president Florentino Perez called a press conference after the clasico disaster to assure the world that he was sticking by Benitez. Perez oversees a change of coach almost every year at the Bernabéu, but he usually waits until the end of the season before yielding the axe.
Benitez can expect a similar amount of time for as long as Madrid stay in contention for the league and in the Champions League, for which they easily qualified from their group this week.
Seeking an outlet to vent their frustrations, some fans turned against Perez last week after their team conceded a fourth, but the president claims it is a minority of ultras who are angry because he banned violent, right-wing extremists from the Bernabéu.
[Andy Mitten: Primera Liga in focus: Valencia, intent on battling Barca and Real, need new saviours]
Perez has a point and he was also right to emphasise that Madrid were struggling before Benitez arrived and that the clasico was only the second game of the season where the former Liverpool manager had all his players available.
But Madrid remain a circus, with some of the best performers in their field, a juggernaut who dominate the media. On Wednesday, they even had Spain’s current prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, commenting live on national radio on their 4-3 Uefa Champions League victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in Lviv.
Rajoy’s teenage son was also in the studio and joked that his father knew nothing about football. That became evident in the broadcast, which he had chosen to do to demonstrate he is a man of the people.
Perez knows far more and his claims that some in the media were trying to destabilise the club are also true. There are people trying to destabilise every football club, none more so than Real Madrid, which considers itself the biggest on earth.
Madrid can reduce the size of the target only by winning football matches and playing well. They will be glad of a chance to do that, even if it is in the tough environs of Eibar, a town famous for making guns.
Madrid hope Eibar do not catch them in their cross hairs.
PLAYER TO WATCH — LASSANA DIARRA (Marseille)
Six months ahead of France’s hosting Euro 2016, Les Bleus may have found their ideal anchor midfield player. He has experience, a distinguished club record and a drive to reclaim lost opportunities.
Back from the brink
Lassana Diarra’s career renaissance with Marseille, who face Mediterranean-coast rivals Monaco on Ligue 1 on Sunday evening, has been dramatic. This time a year ago, he was effectively out of work following a fierce disagreement between the player and the board at Lokomotiv Moscow, whom he had joined the previous January.
Uncertainty
Diarra concedes he experienced “moments when I wondered whether I would play at the top level again”. He kept in shape playing five-a-side in the Paris suburbs. He did not turn 30 until March, but a career that included stints with Chelsea, Arsenal and three seasons at Real Madrid, seemed to have drifted to the margins.
Monsieur Versatile
Diarra has had the confidence of some distinguished coaches, notably Jose Mourinho, who, wanting to get the younger Diarra into the Chelsea team, even used him in an unfamiliar right-back role. His speciality is central midfield, as a tough-tackling anchor. He is a fine passer and reads games well. Marseille, who took a gamble on his readiness in the summer, have found his command in that role a stabilising influence in a season that began poorly.
Irregular Bleu
Diarra won his first France cap in 2007, while still a young player at Chelsea. He had bad luck in terms of tournaments, however, benched throughout Euro 2008 and taken ill just before the 2010 World Cup. He was left out of Euro 2012 reckoning, and his move to Russia seemed to put him off the radar.
Quiet dignity
Body: His recall by Didier Deschamps to the national team in October came after a five-year absence. Then, earlier this month, while on duty for France, he heard a cousin with whom he was close, Asta Diakite, had died in the terrorist attacks on Paris. He released a dignified statement calling for unity and peace, took a day off to grieve with his family and then returned to work, with France and Marseille, with his usual tidy authority.
DON’T MISS MATCH — NAPOLI v INTER MILAN
Napoli welcome leaders Inter Milan looking to regain the spot in Serie A as Roma, fresh from another Uefa Champions League humiliation, and Fiorentina seek to keep pace with the current title favourites.
Napoli sit two points behind Inter, as do Fiorentino. Napoli’s title credentials have been burnished by a string of impressive performances at home and in Europe.
They are unbeaten since losing their league opener away to Sassuolo and, with striker Gonzalo Higuain leading the league on 10 goals, Maurizio Sarri’s side rolled into the Europa League last 32.
The results are far different from a poor 2014/15 season, when former Napoli star Diego Maradona, the architect of their previous two titles, in 1987 and 1990, lambasted Sarri.
Since then, Napoli have dropped only two points as they forge a path towards a possible third title.
"Right now, Napoli are frightening," former Inter and Italy defender Marco Materazzi told Gazzetta dello Sport. "They're well-organised, they're going really well and they've got Higuain, who is among the top five strikers in the world."
Between them, Higuain and Lorenzo Insigne have scored 17 of Napoli’s 24 goals but, with only eight conceded, Inter have the meanest defence in Serie A.
While an Inter win would open up a five-point gap on Napoli, Fiorentina and Roma are expected to remain in hot pursuit, while Juventus, nine points off the pace, travel to Palermo in the hunt for a fourth consecutive win days after beating Manchester City 1-0 to secure their Champions League last-16 berth.
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Moonfall
Director: Rolan Emmerich
Stars: Patrick Wilson, Halle Berry
Rating: 3/5
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
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.”
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Scores
Oman 109-3 in 18.4 overs (Aqib Ilyas 45 not out, Aamir Kaleem 27) beat UAE 108-9 in 20 overs (Usman 27, Mustafa 24, Fayyaz 3-16, Bilal 3-23)
Blue%20Beetle
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Angel%20Manuel%20Soto%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EXolo%20Mariduena%2C%20Adriana%20Barraza%2C%20Damian%20Alcazar%2C%20Raoul%20Max%20Trujillo%2C%20Susan%20Sarandon%2C%20George%20Lopez%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4%2F5%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Roger Federer's 2018 record
Australian Open Champion
Rotterdam Champion
Indian Wells Runner-up
Miami Second round
Stuttgart Champion
Halle Runner-up
Wimbledon Quarter-finals
Cincinnati Runner-up
US Open Fourth round
Shanghai Semi-finals
Basel Champion
Paris Masters Semi-finals
The specs: 2018 Nissan Patrol Nismo
Price: base / as tested: Dh382,000
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 428hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 560Nm @ 3,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
