Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid will test their Champions League credentials when they meet at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday with supremacy in their group at stake.
The two teams, who harbour ambitions of going all the way in Europe’s elite club competition, are locked together at the top of Group A having both beaten Malmo and Shakhtar Donetsk without conceding a goal.
Both sides are therefore well on course to qualify for the last 16, but their double confrontation over the next two weeks – they also meet in the Spanish capital on November 3 – will likely determine who wins the section and thereby sets up a more favourable draw in the first knockout round.
Madrid’s preparations for the match – which comes ahead of a testing run of games in which they will also meet Celta Vigo, Sevilla and Barcelona in La Liga in the next month – have been overshadowed by injuries.
Gareth Bale is set to miss out with a recurrence of a calf injury suffered in the 3-0 win against Levante at the weekend, while James Rodriguez, Pepe and Dani Carvajal are all expected to be sidelined in Paris.
Karim Benzema is also a major doubt due to a hamstring strain.
However, Rafa Benitez’s men have been boosted by the return of Luka Modric to training after an abductor muscle injury and captain Sergio Ramos is reportedly set to start against the French champions after overcoming a shoulder injury.
Madrid are joint top of La Liga and are still unbeaten this season under Benitez, but Spain midfielder Isco admits that record will be seriously tested against PSG.
“They are one of the most complete sides in the competition and they have great players,” Isco told Real’s website.
“The two matches against them will be very hard and will be defined by the small details. We need to follow the same path as we have up to now, scoring a lot of goals and conceding very few.”
Like their opponents, PSG are yet to lose this season and they are top of Ligue 1 after winning 2-0 at Bastia at the weekend.
Indeed, that result left them unbeaten in their last 20 games in all competitions since a 2-0 defeat against Barcelona in the quarter-finals of last season’s Champions League in April.
However, Paris coach Laurent Blanc also has injury concerns, with Marco Verratti and Angel Di Maria hoping to feature after missing the Bastia game and David Luiz struggling to overcome a knee injury suffered playing for Brazil.
In addition, first-choice goalkeeper Kevin Trapp faces a fight to recover from a thigh injury in time, so Salvatore Sirigu is standing by to replace him.
“Real can hurt you at any moment. In midfield and up front all of their players can make the difference,” warned PSG striker Edinson Cavani.
The all-star cast for the game will be headed by PSG’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Real’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who have both become the all-time leading scorers for their respective clubs since the start of this month.
Meanwhile, Argentina winger Di Maria will be eager to feature for Paris against the side he helped win the Champions League in 2014 with an outstanding performance in the final against Atletico Madrid.
However, he says he will not produce his trademark celebration, his fingers forming the shape of a heart, should he score.
“I won’t celebrate because in my heart I have not forgotten what I went through with Madrid. It was unforgettable, a magnificent memory that will always stay with me,” Di Maria told Canal Plus.
While Paris have faced Barcelona six times in the last three seasons, they have not come up against Real for two decades.
Back then, the French side knocked Madrid out of Europe in consecutive seasons, beating them in the Uefa Cup quarter-finals in 1993 when a legendary late goal by Antoine Kombouare secured a 5-4 aggregate triumph, and then coming out on top in the Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-finals a year later.
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The essentials
What: Emirates Airline Festival of Literature
When: Friday until March 9
Where: All main sessions are held in the InterContinental Dubai Festival City
Price: Sessions range from free entry to Dh125 tickets, with the exception of special events.
Hot Tip: If waiting for your book to be signed looks like it will be timeconsuming, ask the festival’s bookstore if they have pre-signed copies of the book you’re looking for. They should have a bunch from some of the festival’s biggest guest authors.
Information: www.emirateslitfest.com
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
Cricket World Cup League Two
Teams
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Namibia beat Oman by 52 runs
UAE beat Namibia by eight wickets
Fixtures
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Oman
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
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.”
