Below, find the TV information and previews for Tuesday night's Champions League matches in the UAE.
*All matches begin 10.45pm.
• Barcelona v Manchester City, beIN Sports 1HD (Arabic) and 11HD (English) and 17HD (Spanish)
• Bayern Munich v PSV Eindhoven, beIN Sports 5HD
• Paris Saint-Germain v FC Basel, beIN Sports 2HD
• Arsenal v Ludogorets Razgrad, beIN Sports 6HD (Arabic) and 12HD (English)
• Napoli v Besiktas, beIN Sports 4HD
• Dynamo Kiev v Benfica, beIN Sports 7HD
• Celtic v Borussia Monchengladbach, beIN Sports 9HD
• FC Rostov v Atletico Madrid, beIN Sports 8HD
Previews
• Barcelona v Manchester City
Pep Guardiola’s return to Barcelona, the club where he won the Champions League as both player and manager (twice) makes this game the tie of the season so far. Barcelona have won 12 straight Champions League games at home and with Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar all primed to play. Crucially for City, playmaker Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero will be at full fitness too after two draws and a defeat in the last three games. Captain Vincent Kompany also looks set for a start. Gerard Pique, in the news this week for his controversial role in Spain’s outfit and his ambitions to be Barcelona president, has also scored three goals in the last three games. Guardiola’s men drew with Everton at the weekend.
• Bayern Munich v PSV Eindhoven
Bayern host PSV with Carlo Ancelotti slamming their “bad attitude” in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt and club chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge describing the performance as “unacceptable”. They need a win to steady the ship after a loss last time out to Atletico Madrid left them in second, three points off the Spanish pacesetters. Franck Ribery misses the match with a leg injury. A win would be Bayern’s first in their last four outings.
• Celtic v Borussia Monchengladbach
Celtic’s raucous fans carried the team to a wild 3-3 draw with Guardiola’s Man City last time out and will be a bankable asset against Germany’s Borussia Monchengladbach. They’ll need to be, as Celtic are traditionally beaten by German opponents. Andre Schubert’s charges come to Celtic Park in desperate need of a win after defeats against City and Barcelona and in poor spirits after missing two penalties in a 0-0 draw with Hamburg on Saturday. The man to keep an eye on is Celtic striker Moussa Dembele, who has 15 goals in his last 17 games. Brendan Rodgers knows that if the 1967 champions are to escape from this group with the respect of their own fans they need to win the game and will be priming the striker to spearhead his masterplan.
• Paris Saint-Germain v FC Basel
As manager of Sevilla last season Unai Emery beat Basel on the way to winning the Europa League. Now his current charges, French champions Paris Saint-Germain, host them in confident mood thanks to Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani – enjoying a purple patch of 15 goals in his last 11 games – and Brazilian playmaker Lucas Moura. Both scored in a weekend win. Basel’s Iceland midfielder Birkir Bjarnason scored in his last match in Paris, albeit in a 5-2 defeat at the Stade de France against hosts France in the quarter-finals of the Euros. The Swiss champions warmed up with a 3-0 win over Luzern and can welcome back players whose legs were saved at the weekend.
• Arsenal v Ludogorets Razgrad
Arsenal look a solid bet to continue their Champions League unbeaten start when they host Bulgarian outfit Ludogorets Razgrad. The team were unfortunate not to win in Paris before form striker Theo Walcott scored a double to beat Basel. Walcott scored twice again this weekend as a gritty Arsenal dug in for a 10-man 3-2 win over Swansea that saw them climb level with Man City at the top of the Premier League. One note of caution for the hosts is that Ludogorets took the lead in both their games, a 1-1 draw with the Swiss and a 3-1 home defeat by PSG. The Bulgarian champions are also on a seven game unbeaten run away from home.
• Napoli v Besiktas
Napoli will become the first team to qualify for the last 16 if they notch up their third straight win and Dynamo Kiev draw with Benfica. A superb opening 4-2 win over Benfica followed by a 2-1 defeat of Dynamo in Ukraine left coach Maurizio Sarri’s side coasting towards the knockout stages. Arkadiusz Milik, signed as a replacement for striker Gonzalo Higuain, has scored three goals in the competition for Napoli but is out for months with a knee injury. The Serie A side lost to AS Roma on Saturday, leaving them seven points off the league leaders Juventus. Besiktas, back in the competition for the first time since 2009/10, were buoyed by a 1-0 win at Kayserispor to maintain their best domestic start in five seasons. Besiktas midfielder Gokhan Inler plans not to celebrate if he scores against his former club.
• Dynamo Kiev v Benfica
Both sides go in search of their first win, crucial if they are not to be cut adrift in the group. Dynamo’s Serhiy Sydorchuk is available after a one match ban due to his Matchday 1 dismissal in the 2-1 loss to Napoli. They host Benfica on the back of a weekend 1-1 draw at Chornomorets Odesa to leave the reigning champions six points adrift in the Ukrainian Premier League. Benfica’s 4-2 loss to Napoli is their only defeat in their last 20 matches in all competitions.
• FC Rostov v Atletico Madrid
Russia’s Rostov are seeking to build on their plucky home Champions League debut 2-2 draw against PSV after an opening 5-0 thumping by Bayern Munich. Rostov will be hoping for no repeat of the banana throwing incident that marred the PSV stalemate. They were beaten by Spartak Moscow in the domestic league on Saturday with red cards dished out to two of their players. The Russian side are up against it after last season’s finalists Atletico sparkled in a 1-0 defeat of Bayern Munich. It lifted Diego Simeone’s impressive side into the group lead. A 7-1 humbling of Granada in La Liga means they travel to Russia in confident mood.
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The biog
Birthday: February 22, 1956
Born: Madahha near Chittagong, Bangladesh
Arrived in UAE: 1978
Exercise: At least one hour a day on the Corniche, from 5.30-6am and 7pm to 8pm.
Favourite place in Abu Dhabi? “Everywhere. Wherever you go, you can relax.”
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
Motori Profile
Date started: March 2020
Co-founder/CEO: Ahmed Eissa
Based: UAE, Abu Dhabi
Sector: Insurance Sector
Size: 50 full-time employees (Inside and Outside UAE)
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Safe City Group
Friday's schedule at the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
GP3 qualifying, 10:15am
Formula 2, practice 11:30am
Formula 1, first practice, 1pm
GP3 qualifying session, 3.10pm
Formula 1 second practice, 5pm
Formula 2 qualifying, 7pm
Racecard
6pm: The Pointe - Conditions (TB) Dh82,500 (Turf) 1,400m
6.35pm: Palm West Beach - Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (T) 1,800m
7.10pm: The View at the Palm - Handicap (TB) Dh85,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
7.45pm: Nakeel Graduate Stakes - Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (T) 1,600m
8.20pm: Club Vista Mare - Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 1,900m
8.55pm: The Palm Fountain - Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 1,200m
9.30pm: The Palm Tower - Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (T) 1,600m
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.”
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
