■ Uefa Champions League final: Real Madrid v Juventus, Principality Stadium, kick-off Saturday 10.45pm (UAE), live on beIN Sports HD
Real Madrid are aiming for their 12th European Cup. The next-best tally belongs to AC Milan, who have four fewer than the swaggering Spaniards. Juventus have lost six European Cup finals. No club has a longer list of defeats.
That simple fact, that freight of history, is enough to caution against trusting too heavily in the many credentials of potential champions that Juve, the so-called Old Lady of Italian football, bring into Saturday night’s tantalising, enthralling showdown in Cardiff.
So long have Juventus regarded the European Cup as jinxed, a prize that finds all manner of ways to elude them, that their manager Massimiliano Allegri turns a little snappy when the six defeats are mentioned.
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■ Juventus v Real Madrid: Italians can finally crack Champions League glass ceiling under Max Allegri
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“Juventus have also won two finals,” he points out. Yes, and the last of those was 21 years ago.
Four Juve finals have been lost since then, most recently when Allegri’s Juventus put up a good show against Barcelona in Berlin, but finished second to the stronger team, 3-1.
Now, with half that side replaced, the Old Lady looks like a Bolder Lady — sharper, more incisive, more confident. But so do Madrid.
For all that they have won two of the last three Uefa Champions League finals, both against Atletico Madrid, this feels like a more robust, more assured squad than the ones that won the title in 2014, after extra time, and in 2016, on penalties.
Gareth Bale is unlikely to start as he makes his way back from injury. Pierre-Philippe Marcou / AFP
“Squad” here is the operative word. Madrid have just won their first Primera Liga title since 2012 with judicious use of substitutes, rotations, and from channelling the drive of youth.
That is partly why there is no fretting about the probable absence from the Madrid starting XI of Gareth Bale, recovering from injury. That may be a shame for Cardiff, Bale’s birthplace, but it means Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has less of a dilemma about picking the in-form Isco in the space between midfield and an attack led by Cristiano Ronaldo.
The creative influences of Isco and Juve’s Paulo Dybala, playing just off Juventus centre-forward Gonzalo Higuain may well have a key bearing on the outcome.
Higuain’s match up against Karim Benzema is bound to attract heavy scrutiny, too. They were teammates at Madrid for four years, although for much of that time, they were rivals for a single No 9 position in the team.
Higuain’s departure from Madrid in 2013, when he joined Napoli, spelt out to Benzema that he had won that joust.
Gonzalo Higuain comes up against his old club in the final. Giorgio Perottino / Reuters
Higuain never looked back. His goals for Napoli ushered him towards the €90 million (Dh370.6m) transfer to Juve last summer. He contributed 24 goals to this season’s Serie A title. Benzema, meanwhile, has had a troubled time off the pitch, but has become the most trusted ally in attack for Ronaldo.
The duels are finely balanced. Another former Madrid player, Sami Khedira, should be fit to take on his old club, among his midfield tasks to close down Luka Modric and Toni Kroos, Khedira’s German compatriot and a key supplier of passes for Ronaldo and Benzema.
In Madrid’s Kroos and Juve’s Miralem Pjanic, this final is blessed with two of the game’s best deliverers of a dead ball. A great deal of strategising on set-pieces will have been carried out by Zidane and Allegri.
Juventus’s formidable central defenders, Giorgio Chiellini and Leo Bonucci, are famously efficient and infamously rugged in the penalty box. Sergio Ramos makes a habit of advancing from defence for corners and free-kicks to convert goals in major games. He has scored in both Champions League finals he has played.
The duel between Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo is set to be the most captivating. AFP
Then there are the battles of the full-backs, all of whom regard themselves as auxiliary midfielders — and more.
On one flank the vigorous Dani Carvajal, of Madrid, will seek to master Alex Sandro. On the other the energetic Dani Alves, three times a Champions League winner with Barcelona, faces up to fellow Brazilian, Marcelo, arguably Madrid’s player of the season.
And there is the confrontation which Cardiff must anticipate, a thrilling edge-of-the-seat moment: Ronaldo closing in on Gianluigi Buffon.
It will be the scorer of more than 100 Champions League goals against the veteran who has kept goal in more than 1,000 senior professional matches.
“I’d like Buffon to not have one of his best games,” Ronaldo said of their special duel.
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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.”
Essentials
The flights: You can fly from the UAE to Iceland with one stop in Europe with a variety of airlines. Return flights with Emirates from Dubai to Stockholm, then Icelandair to Reykjavik, cost from Dh4,153 return. The whole trip takes 11 hours. British Airways flies from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Reykjavik, via London, with return flights taking 12 hours and costing from Dh2,490 return, including taxes.
The activities: A half-day Silfra snorkelling trip costs 14,990 Icelandic kronur (Dh544) with Dive.is. Inside the Volcano also takes half a day and costs 42,000 kronur (Dh1,524). The Jokulsarlon small-boat cruise lasts about an hour and costs 9,800 kronur (Dh356). Into the Glacier costs 19,500 kronur (Dh708). It lasts three to four hours.
The tours: It’s often better to book a tailor-made trip through a specialist operator. UK-based Discover the World offers seven nights, self-driving, across the island from £892 (Dh4,505) per person. This includes three nights’ accommodation at Hotel Husafell near Into the Glacier, two nights at Hotel Ranga and two nights at the Icelandair Hotel Klaustur. It includes car rental, plus an iPad with itinerary and tourist information pre-loaded onto it, while activities can be booked as optional extras. More information inspiredbyiceland.com
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
