Aaron Ramsey, right, and Mesut Ozil, left, celebrate after Ramsey's goal in a 1-0 win over Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday night. Odd Andersen / AFP
Aaron Ramsey, right, and Mesut Ozil, left, celebrate after Ramsey's goal in a 1-0 win over Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday night. Odd Andersen / AFP

Arsenal take control of Champions League group with Dortmund win



DORTMUND, Germany // Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has insisted nothing is decided in Group F as the Gunners’ 1-0 Champions League win at Borussia Dortmund kept them top only on goal difference.

Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey headed the crucial second-half goal as Arsenal avenged their 2-1 defeat at home to the Germans a fortnight ago.

Arsenal became the first team since Stuttgart in November 2012 to prevent Dortmund scoring at home, but stay top of Group F on goal difference with nine points and level with Napoli.

“It’s difficult to say how the group will go now,” insisted a cautious Wenger, whose side host Marseille in a fortnight, then travel to Napoli in December.

“We have to win our home game, just like Dortmund, there is still a lot of football left to play.

“It was a difficult win for us, but we took our chances.”

Dortmund had 13 shots compared to Arsenal’s four, but the visitors made their chances count.

“It was a tough game, Dortmund had better chances in the first half, but we took ours and we weren’t under so much pressure once we went ahead,” added Wenger.

“Dortmund fought fantastically hard and had us under pressure, but we managed to get the goal.

“We were mature tactically, didn’t make many big mistakes and we showed patience.

“We had a tough phase at the start of the second half and after we went 1-0 up we weren’t under as much pressure and even had our chances for a second goal.”

Having dropped to third in the table, last season’s Champions League finalists Dortmund possibly having to win both their remaining games at home to Napoli, then away to Marseille to keep alive their hopes of reaching the knock-out stages.

“Losing the game was unnecessary, but we haven’t lost hope yet, everything is still possible as long as we win the remaining two games,” said Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp.

“It’s definitely going to get exciting from now on.

“I told the team, what everyone saw today, that we weren’t rewarded for our efforts.

“We hadn’t planned on losing the game and it wasn’t necessary.

“But it’s not over, we still have every chance of two wins.”

Captain Roman Weidenfeller was furious with the result of the match played in heavy rain.

“Football can be unfair at times,” said the goalkeeper.

“We had a bit of luck in London and we were punished for it tonight.

“Unfortunately, we lacked a bit of purpose going forward and we wanted to do things a bit too nicely.

“In weather like this, you have to shoot a bit more. The group is wide open now.”

Arsenal’s Germany centre-back Per Mertesacker, who kept Dortmund’s Poland hot-shot striker Robert Lewandowski subdued, said the Gunners had simply stuck to their pre-match plan to contain Borussia’s potent attack.

“We wanted to restrict the way Dortmund ran at us,” said the towering defender.

“We did that well in the first half and in the second half we used our chances to counter-attack.

“We had a bit of luck, but things worked out well for us.”

From Zero

Artist: Linkin Park

Label: Warner Records

Number of tracks: 11

Rating: 4/5

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale

Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni

Director: Amith Krishnan

Rating: 3.5/5

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.”

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Match info

Premier League

Manchester United 2 (Martial 30', Lingard 69')
Arsenal 2 (Mustafi 26', Rojo 68' OG)

Electoral College Victory

Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate. 

 

Popular Vote Tally

The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.

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