The Lowdown
There will be talk of this tie being 'worthy of a final': The German champions against the Serie A title-holders; the two clubs who, mid-February, topped their domestic tables. And both reached the last four of the Champions League last season, Juventus finishing runners-up. So, yes, worthy of a final except that reaching European Cup finals has become tantalisingly hard for Bayern Munich under Pep Guardiola, beaten comfortably at the penultimate hurdle in their two years under his management.
How They Got Here
Juve found themselves in probably the most devilish first-phase pool, filled with opponents from each of the leading European leagues. They could only share the points over two matches against Germany’s Borussia Monchengladbach – two draws – and against Spain’s Sevilla – a win and a loss – and though they took six points off Manchester City, City finished a point ahead of the Old Lady.
Bayern suffered one setback, with a defeat at Arsenal in a group that ultimately proved far more taxing for the English club than the Germans. In their other five games, they racked up 19 goals and a full complement of points at the expense of Dinamo Zagreb, Olympiakos and an Arsenal who were beaten 5-1 in Munich.
Key Players
Sami Khedira, Juventus – He has been a lucky charm for Juventus this season ... when he's been fit. He was missing with injury when they struggled in the early part of their campaign, but had yet to experience defeat as a starter by the time they reached the top of the Italian table on February 13th. Needs to show Germany manager Jogi Loew he is fit and peaking ahead of Euro 2016.
Douglas Costa, Bayern Munich – The Brazilian winger made a superb start to his Bayern career, and has the capacity to trouble a Juventus defence which is a little ageing, if solid. He will also make Juve's full-backs wary of too much adventurous pushing forward, because of his speed and skill on the break.
Points to Prove
Mario Mandzukic, Juventus – Juventus' Croatian striker, who hopes to be fully recovered from a muscle problem in time for the first leg, is not the first centre-forward to have been moved on swiftly from a Pep Guardiola squad, as he was from Bayern in the summer of 2014. After a brief stop at Atletico Madrid, he will want to make a lasting impact at Juve.
Pep Guardiola, Bayern Munich – Once upon a time, Guardiola had a magic touch in Europe. Twice in three years he oversaw Champions League triumphs at Barcelona. But under the coveted coach, set to join Manchester City in July, a defensively suspect Bayern have lost two semi-finals heavily in his time there. He will need to plan for Juve carefully, given several key injuries to trusted back-four players.
The National’s Verdict
Juventus’s domestic momentum, coupled with the rash of unavailable Bayern defenders – Jerome Boateng, Holger Badstuber, perhaps Javi Martinez – suggests Juve can sneak it.
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Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
Kamindu Mendis bio
Full name: Pasqual Handi Kamindu Dilanka Mendis
Born: September 30, 1998
Age: 20 years and 26 days
Nationality: Sri Lankan
Major teams Sri Lanka's Under 19 team
Batting style: Left-hander
Bowling style: Right-arm off-spin and slow left-arm orthodox (that's right!)
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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.”
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League last 16, first leg
Liverpool v Bayern Munich, midnight, Wednesday, BeIN Sports
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
SPECS
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Gulf Under 19s final
Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B
