Jose Mourinho was trying to be philosophical. He was aiming to rationalise his disappointment.
Manchester United had just been ejected from the Uefa Champions League. Their sole chance of silverware this season would be in the FA Cup.
"A fantastic team like Tottenham has to do exactly the same as us,” the Portuguese argued.
Twenty-four hours later, another parallel was provided. Chelsea also exited Europe. They also run the risk of seeing their chances of a trophy disappear in a damaging week.
In contrast, as Mourinho pointed out, England’s two representatives in the Champions League are not competing for the consolation prize. "Liverpool has the Champions League but doesn't have the FA Cup,” he said, though that may not soothe the feelings of United supporters annoyed by their wretched display against Sevilla.
Nor do Manchester City.
Three of England's big six have beat surprising exits from the FA Cup – City losing to Wigan, Liverpool to West Bromwich Albion and Arsenal to Nottingham Forest – and the others can eye what should be easier paths to success.
The FA Cup could be branded a season-salvaging exercise, or at least a face-saving one. Especially, perhaps for Mourinho.
United are on course for their highest finish since Alex Ferguson’s retirement. Yet the 16-point gulf to City means second place cannot be celebrated. Nor, given United’s failed blueprint and dreadful display against Sevilla, their Champions League campaign.
Perhaps, Mourinho is mutating into a cup specialist, as his powers seem to wane and as his almost annual habit of collecting league titles becomes more infrequent. He won two knockout competitions last season, in the League Cup and the Europa League.
If the FA Cup would complete a set of the less prestigious tournaments, it would also enable him to match last season’s combination of Champions League qualification and securing an honour. Given his storied past, it would nonetheless feel underwhelming.
United merit a billing as favourites and only partly because they host Brighton whereas Tottenham Hotspur visit Swansea City and Chelsea go to Leicester City.
Mourinho has a solitary FA Cup to his name, but Mauricio Pochettino is famously awaiting a first managerial honour and Antonio Conte, that specialist in dominating leagues, has been strangely unable to win a domestic cup.
If Mourinho is looking for a variant on his achievements last year, Conte could emulate the Portuguese’s predecessor.
In 2016, Louis van Gaal finished fifth and won the FA Cup. It was not enough to keep him employed, with Truus van Gaal reading reports of her husband's departure and informing him at Wembley. It put something of a dampener on the mood.
Conte’s summer exit last long looked probable. Regaining their top-four status in the next two months matters more for the club. Lifting the FA Cup would at least give the manager something tangible to put on his CV after a fractious season.
Tottenham have no honour since 2008. Their drought predated Pochettino’s arrival. And yet, if all of that ought to mean their need is most pressing, the opposite may be true.
Tottenham's Champions League loss to a fine Juventus team was more excusable than United's elimination at the hands of a Sevilla side with a negative goal difference in the Primera Liga. The rather more harmonious atmosphere between manager, players, powerbrokers and fans that Pochettino has engineered means Spurs' season has felt less tempestuous than Conte's and Chelsea's.
Yet while reaching the quarter-final is no feat for Tottenham, who have faced AFC Wimbledon, Newport County and Rochdale and twice been taken to a replay, Pochettino may be in the best position. Mourinho is under more scrutiny, Conte under more pressure.
He has less to lose than them and more to gain.
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Read more
Champions League heartache not 'anything new' for Manchester United, insists Mourinho
'Feels good to be back at this stunning place!': City players enjoying break in Abu Dhabi
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Yuki Means Happiness
Alison Jean Lester
John Murray
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.”
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
