Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly has offered his apologies after his late own goal secured a dramatic 4-3 Serie A victory for Juventus on Saturday.
Napoli had fought back from 0-3 down against the champions to level at 3-3 before a last-gasp own goal from Koulibaly consigned his side to a late defeat.
The Senegal international shanked in Paulo Dybala's free-kick under no pressure in the second minute of stoppage time to hand Juve the three points in Turin and put Maurizio Sarri's side top with a maximum six points, leaving Napoli with nothing to show for their efforts.
"It's an own goal that hurts me because it came after an incredible comeback," Koulibaly later said on Twitter.
"I'm sorry but I have to - we have to accept it: we are strong. We have shown that. We're going to prove it."
Koulibaly's blunder undid all of Napoli's good work in fighting back from the dead with less than half-an-hour left, with goals from Danilo just 20 seconds after he came on as a substitute, Gonzalo Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo on 61 minutes giving the reigning champions what looked like an unassailable lead.
However two goals in as many minutes from Kostas Manolas and Hirving Lozano shortly after Ronaldo had made it three brought Napoli back into the game, and Giovanni Di Lorenzo sent the away fans wild with a close-range finish to set up a tense final nine minutes.
But with at least point seemingly in the bag, Koulibaly made it a nightmare end for Carlo Ancelotti's men, who finished on the wrong end of a 4-3 scoreline after winning by the same margin at Fiorentina last weekend.
"It was a rollercoaster. We lost control of the game and got distracted, so they managed to equalise, but fortunately in the end we still won," said Higuain, who spun Koulibaly before slamming home Juve's superb second.
The champions made light of the absence of captain Giorgio Chiellini, out with anterior cruciate ligament knee injury, and Sarri, who is battling pneumonia and was not on the bench.
Ancelotti meanwhile was left to regret a "wasted opportunity" after losing in such gut-wrenching fashion.
"It was not a positive performance. The first hour we didn't do well. But despite the 3-0 we stayed in the game, we came back," said Ancelotti.
"Juventus have so much character and quality, we know that they always step up in the important moments of the season.
"We wasted an opportunity today."
Earlier Turkey midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu claimed AC Milan's first three points of the season after scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win over newly-promoted Brescia.
The 25-year-old connected with a cross from Spanish winger Suso to head a 12th-minute winner after Milan had lost their opener to Udinese last weekend.
Poland forward Krzysztof Piatek, who finished third in Serie A's scorers chart last season with 22 goals, Lucas Paqueta and Fabio Borini all started on the bench for the side who have been banned from this season's Europa League for breaking financial fair play rules.
Dimitri Bisoli missed a chance to equalise, sending a shot over the bar with Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma denying Ricardo Rodriguez's deflected shot before the break.
Piatek come on for the last half an hour in place of Andre Silva, with Paqueta replacing Calhanoglu five minutes later.
The hosts came to life in the final 10 minutes with Piatek missing a chance to get a second goal for Milan, then setting up Paqueta who also drew a blank.
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 President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Jawan
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Everton (Rooney 45 1')
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
