Frustrated Napoli lose Reina, points in draw with Cagliari

Napoli goalkeeper Pepe Reina was forced off injured as the Serie A title challengers were left frustrated by a 1-1 draw away to Cagliari on Saturday.

Rafael Benitez’s side travelled to Sardinia hoping to close the gap on second-placed Roma and champions Juventus ahead of their respective games Sunday against Catania and Atalanta.

However Cagliari, beaten at home only once this season, produced a determined performance at a virtually empty Sant’Elia stadium to leave Napoli third but now two points behind Roma and seven behind Juventus.

Benitez’s woes deepened when Reina, who made his return from recent injury for Napoli’s final league game of the year, hobbled off on the stroke of half-time with an apparently fresh muscle injury.

Benitez complained about the “terrible” state of the pitch, adding in comments to Sky Sport Italia: “It was difficult to pass the ball around quickly. We had a lot of chances, but it’s not good enough.”

Juventus host Roma on January 5 and Benitez added: “We’ve dropped two points but we have to keep on working like we have been. We know Juve host Roma soon and maybe we can capitalise.

“But we also have to focus on what we’re doing.”

Cagliari midfielder Radja Nainggolan showed once more why he is a target, reportedly, for some bigger Serie A sides and said: “We were up against a top level side and we could have done a little better after the interval but against the third-placed side in the league a draw is a top result.”

On his future, the Belgian added: “It’s only the media who are talking about the transfer market. I haven’t received any offers and I’m happy where I am at Cagliari.”

Cagliari started in positive fashion and Nene had the ball in the net after five minutes only to be ruled offside – earning a yellow card in the process after failing to heed the referee’s whistle.

Four minutes later, however, the Sardinians were celebrating after a finely-worked move involving Nainggolan and Davide Astori saw Nene drive the latter’s delivery past Reina from 10 yards out.

Overall, it was to prove a rollercoaster night for Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain, who first scuffed a shot from a promising position before putting Napoli on level terms.

Goran Pandev was pulled down from behind by Astori and after the referee pointed to the spot Higuain stepped up and beat Vlada Avramov in the hosts’ net.

Reina, meanwhile, was replaced by Rafael Cabral after pulling up and holding the back of his leg while collecting the ball under no pressure.

Napoli emerged fired up for the second half and Pandev did well to dribble his way into the area to deliver for Lorenzo Insigne but the Italy forward was just out of reach.

Pandev was then on the receiving end of a similar cross from Higuain but the Macedonian failed to connect while unmarked at the back post.

Napoli’s frustration grew and Benitez replaced Insigne with Belgian midfielder Dries Mertens with 20 minutes remaining.

Two minutes later the visitors were in uproar after a stunning volley by Spaniard Jose Callejon beat Avramov from distance but was chalked off after Pandev was ruled offside.

Ten minutes later Mauricio Pinilla rose above French defender Anthony Reveillere to send a header wide of Rafael’s upright at the back post.

Napoli had little to offer in the closing minutes and it was Cagliari who were left celebrating having gone six games unbeaten.

Earlier, Udinese had Thomas Heurtaux’s 65th minute strike to thank for a 2-1 win away to struggling Livorno after Luca Siligardi had levelled for the hosts following Nico Lopez’s opener on 10 minutes.

Sun jukebox

Rufus Thomas, Bear Cat (The Answer to Hound Dog) (1953)

This rip-off of Leiber/Stoller’s early rock stomper brought a lawsuit against Phillips and necessitated Presley’s premature sale to RCA.

Elvis Presley, Mystery Train (1955)

The B-side of Presley’s final single for Sun bops with a drummer-less groove.

Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, Folsom Prison Blues (1955)

Originally recorded for Sun, Cash’s signature tune was performed for inmates of the titular prison 13 years later.

Carl Perkins, Blue Suede Shoes (1956)

Within a month of Sun’s February release Elvis had his version out on RCA.

Roy Orbison, Ooby Dooby (1956)

An essential piece of irreverent juvenilia from Orbison.

Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire (1957)

Lee’s trademark anthem is one of the era’s best-remembered – and best-selling – songs.

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.”

How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars

Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.

Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.

After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.

Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.

It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.