PARIS // Twenty-year-old Valentin Lavigne scored with three minutes left to hand unfancied Lorient a shock 2-1 victory over Monaco in the final match of the opening weekend in Ligue 1 action on Sunday.
Colombian striker Radamel Falcao had appeared to salvage a point for new coach Leonardo Jardim with a controversial penalty on 78 minutes, following Ricardo Carvalho’s sending-off.
But Lavigne broke clear of the defence to slot the ball past Croatian ‘keeper Danijel Subasic.
“I understand that the fans are worried,” admitted Jardim. “We want to win and give them football of quality.
“I would have preferred to lose in the pre-season than on the opening day of the league. But I can promise the fans that we are going to work hard to continue to move forward.”
The visitors stunned the Louis II faithful, including Prince Albert, as they forced a penalty after just ten minutes when Aymen Abdennour committed a foul inside the area.
Cameroon international Vincent Aboubakar made no mistake from the spot as he planted a low shot past Subasic to put Lorient 1-0 in front.
Lorient goalkeeper Benjamin Lacomte, who spent last season on loan at second division Dijon, dealt with everything that came his way before the referee awarded Monaco a penalty with 12 minutes left.
But despite Falcao’s strike, it wasn’t enough.
Earlier, seven-time French champions Lyon began their campaign in fine style as they defeated Brittany club Rennes 2-0 at the Stade Gerland.
Caen are the early frontrunners on goal difference after their 3-0 win at Evian on Saturday.
Lyon, who won their titles consecutively from 2002 and 2008, opened the scoring in their first league match under new coach Hubert Fournier with a strike from 34-year-old midfielder Steed Malbranque after 64 minutes.
French international Alexandre Lacazette, who scored 23 goals last season, made the points safe from the penalty spot with 16 minutes left.
Champions Paris Saint-Germain were held to a 2-2 draw at Reims in the Ligue 1 curtain raiser on Friday while Marseille were pegged back in a 3-3 draw at Bastia 24 hours later in a match marred by crowd trouble.
There were also opening day wins for Saint-Etienne, Bordeaux, Nice and Nantes while Champions League hopefuls Lille, who drew Porto in the final qualifiying round, were held to a 0-0 stalemate at home by Metz.
Lyon get off to a winning start
Seven-time French champions Lyon began their Ligue 1 campaign in fine style as they defeated Brittany club Rennes 2-0 at the Stade Gerland on Sunday.
As the opening weekend of the French season reached it’s conclusion, with just last season’s runners-up Monaco set to host Lorient in the final match later Sunday, Caen were the early frontrunners on goal difference after their 3-0 win at Evian on Saturday.
Lyon, who won their titles consecutively from 2002 and 2008, opened the scoring in their first league match under new coach Hubert Fournier with a strike from 34-year-old midfielder Steed Malbranque after 64 minutes.
French international Alexandre Lacazette, who scored 23 goals last season, made the points safe from the penalty spot with 16 minutes left.
Champions Paris Saint-Germain were held to a 2-2 draw at Reims in the Ligue 1 curtain raiser on Friday while Marseille were pegged back in a 3-3 draw at Bastia 24 hours later in a match marred by crowd trouble.
There were also opening day wins for Saint-Etienne, Bordeaux, Nice and Nantes while Champions League hopefuls Lille, who drew Porto in the final qualfiying round, were held to a 0-0 stalemate at home by Metz.
French Ligue 1 results on Sunday:
Monaco 1 (Falcao 78-pen) Lorient 2 (Aboubakar 9-pen, Lavigne 87)
Lyon 2 (Malbranque 64, Lacazette 73-pen) Rennes 0
Saturday
Evian/Thonon 0 Caen 3 (Kante 12, Duhamel 32, 37)
Bastia 3 (Maboulou 9, 73, Tallo 66-pen) Marseille 3 (Gignac 11, 62-pen, Thauvin 17)
Guingamp 0 Saint-Etienne 2 (Erding 39-pen, 90+2)
Lille 0 Metz 0
Montpellier 0 Bordeaux 1 (Diabaté 17)
Nantes 1 (Bammou 65) Lens 0
Nice 3 (Cvitanich 23, 62, Bosetti 68) Toulouse 2 (Braithwaite 44, Ben Yedder 45)
Friday
Reims 2 (Oniangue 22, Devaux 35) Paris Saint-Germain 2 (Ibrahimovic 7, 62)
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Syria squad
Goalkeepers: Ibrahim Alma, Mahmoud Al Youssef, Ahmad Madania.
Defenders: Ahmad Al Salih, Moayad Ajan, Jehad Al Baour, Omar Midani, Amro Jenyat, Hussein Jwayed, Nadim Sabagh, Abdul Malek Anezan.
Midfielders: Mahmoud Al Mawas, Mohammed Osman, Osama Omari, Tamer Haj Mohamad, Ahmad Ashkar, Youssef Kalfa, Zaher Midani, Khaled Al Mobayed, Fahd Youssef.
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MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Manchester United v Barcelona, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match on BeIN Sports
Major honours
ARSENAL
BARCELONA
- La Liga - 2013
- Copa del Rey - 2012
- Fifa Club World Cup - 2011
CHELSEA
- Premier League - 2015, 2017
- FA Cup - 2018
- League Cup - 2015
SPAIN
- World Cup - 2010
- European Championship - 2008, 2012
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4. Cyber attacks
5. Profound social instability
Top 5 concerns in the Mena region
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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.”
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Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
