In pursuit of a eighth successive Bundesliga win at the weekend, Bayern Munich trusted in youth.
They went 1-0 up against Borussia Monchengladbach, fifth in the table, thanks to Joshua Zirkzee, the Dutch teenager. It was Zirkzee’s fourth Bayern goal, scored 26 minutes into his third-Bundesliga start.
Monchengladbach had equalised by half-time and the chase for the three points that would keep Bayern on their smooth course to an eighth successive Bundesliga title turned attritional.
Manager Hansi Flick looked to his bench, and readied another teenager, Alphonso Davies.
Once the first three substitutions had been made, Bayern had fielded 10 players aged 25 or under. They sealed the 2-1, eventually, thanks to Leon Goretzka’s goal with four minutes remaining.
The result means Bayern can confirm they are champions once again with victory on Tuesday at Werder Bremen, because they go into this, the 32nd future of the 34-match season seven points clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund.
The line-up of Flick’s team at the weekend also stimulates the thought that Bayern’s under-25s might well have been among the top two teams in Germany this season, were they given their own shot at the top division.
Against Monchengladbach, Zirkzee, leading the attack, and Michael Cuisance, the 20-year-old Frenchman operating just behind, partly owed their places in the starting XI to two major absences because of suspension.
Robert Lewandowski was on Saturday deprived of the opportunity, thanks to an accumulation of yellow cards, to add to his towering tally of 30 league goals so far.
Thomas Muller, who has set up more of those Lewandowski goals than anybody, was also suspended.
Muller is 30, Lewandowski 31 and along with Jerome Boateng, 31, David Alaba, 27, and Manuel Neuer, 34, they have been leaders through most of this long period of domestic dominance.
They were all alarmed by how close Dortmund pushed Bayern in 2018-19, the title clinched by the defending champions only on the last day.
They recognised a genuine crisis in late October, just before Niko Kovac was relieved of his job as manager.
Boateng and Muller would be forgiven for learning to watch their backs: they were told last year they were no longer in Joachim Low’s national team plans, the Germany manager citing a need to rejuvenate his squad.
But Flick has been good for the older warriors. He has overseen an uptick in the form of Boateng and Muller, and watched Lewandowski, a prolific striker for a decade, turn more potent than ever.
Bayern’s directors applauded Flick for that, and for his work with younger players, like Davies, by making him not just the post-Kovac caretaker but the man in charge for the longer-term, when Bayern expect to add even more talent to their strong cast of under 25s.
Which was the issue Muller addressed in an interview last week, after Bayern had secured their place in the German Cup final.
Suffice to report that, amid the expectant self-congratulation over another Bundesliga crown, and a possible Treble – Bayern will go confidently into the rest of the Champions League, assuming it restarts as planned in August – Muller’s comments have ignited controversy.
The veteran had been asked about possible new signings. Like Kai Havertz, Bayer Leverkusen’s gifted 21-year-old who remains on the Bayern radar, although they are not the only potential suitors.
Or Leroy Sane, of Manchester City, in whom Bayern have scarcely disguised their interest for well over a year.
Muller replied: “I always want us to sign the best players. But it is a bit of a paradox, all this talk of new players coming in at the same as time the need to save on salaries.”
Bayern’s economy, though much the strongest in Germany, has been affected by the coronavirus crisis and the club have forecast that there will be constraints on the wage bill.
Muller was then told sharply by Bayern’s sporting director, Hasan Salihamidzic, that the comments had not been well received. “We sat down and talked about it,” according to Salihamidzic. “I told Thomas it wasn’t right.” Muller, added Salihamidzic, had “understood because he’s a very, very intelligent young man, as well as a very intelligent player.”
Muller might most appreciate the “young man” part of that statement.
Bayern are not ready to replace him with a more youthful model, not on his brilliant recent form.
Muller is preparing to collect his ninth winner’s medal for Bayern in the Bundesliga, perhaps a sixth German Cup in their colours and maybe a second Champions League crown – all before he turns 31.
Meatless Days
Sara Suleri, with an introduction by Kamila Shamsie
Penguin
THE BIO
Age: 30
Favourite book: The Power of Habit
Favourite quote: "The world is full of good people, if you cannot find one, be one"
Favourite exercise: The snatch
Favourite colour: Blue
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
Polarised public
31% in UK say BBC is biased to left-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is biased to right-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is not biased at all
Source: YouGov
The Pope's itinerary
Sunday, February 3, 2019 - Rome to Abu Dhabi
1pm: departure by plane from Rome / Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi
10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
Monday, February 4
12pm: welcome ceremony at the main entrance of the Presidential Palace
12.20pm: visit Abu Dhabi Crown Prince at Presidential Palace
5pm: private meeting with Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6.10pm: Inter-religious in the Founder's Memorial
Tuesday, February 5 - Abu Dhabi to Rome
9.15am: private visit to undisclosed cathedral
10.30am: public mass at Zayed Sports City – with a homily by Pope Francis
12.40pm: farewell at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
1pm: departure by plane to Rome
5pm: arrival at the Rome / Ciampino International Airport
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Other must-tries
Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
SPECS
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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.”
The five pillars of Islam
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Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
