The players of Inter Milan returned home early on Wednesday morning on a wave of optimism.
A win at Chelsea is quite a scalp, and though the rest of Italy had hardly suggested before Inter completed their 3-1 aggregate victory over the London club in the last 16 of the Champions League that the Serie A champions were carrying the full support of the nation with them.
Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea's Italian manager, said every Italian except the interisti would be supporting the English side but Inter have done their league a significant favour.
Italian football was in danger of becoming the frail, forgetful dodderer of Europe's elite competition. One of its clubs is now confidently talking about winning the Champions League and the rest of the contenders, in a field shorn of some significant heavyweights, are taking that seriously.
Samuel Eto'o, the scorer of the only goal of the night at Chelsea, announced: "We are a team of champions and have shown we can go to any venue and win." Stamford Bridge is Inter and Serie A's bridge to renewed self-belief in Europe.
Coupled with Fiorentina's triumphs earlier in the competition against Liverpool, including at Anfield, it is Italy's rope-ladder back to respectability in a cup that in the past 20 years produced 12 Italian finalists, but in the past two years had only put one club, on one occasion, even as far as the last eight.
The fact that Inter and Fiorentina secured home and away wins over English clubs whose home grounds have a particular fortress reputation is genuinely good reason for some breast-beating.
The Italians have developed almost a phobia about the Premier League, given that three Serie A teams were eliminated by three English clubs at the last-16 stage a year ago, and that, a season before that, Liverpool knocked out Inter, and Arsenal overcame Milan before the quarter-finals, where Manchester United duly undid Roma.
Taking up Eto'o's theme, Inter captain, Javier Zanetti, sees a door opening for a club who, for all that they have strung together four successive Italian titles, have not reached the last four of the Champions League for the last five years.
Zanetti, an Inter player since the 1990s, knows better that anybody the frustrations of the European Cup for his club, and, though cautious in his clairvoyance, sees the result as "a signal".
"For everybody, this victory means something special," said Zanetti. "Inter performed really well and showed great character, which we needed. It is not easy to beat Chelsea twice." Indeed. Nobody has beaten Chelsea in both legs of a knockout stage tie in the Champions League for more than a decade.
All these startling figures make it look like a watershed. Eight days after Milan's humiliating defeat to Manchester United in the same competition, it still takes a lurch of the imagination to herald a renaissance for a Serie A which is self-conscious about indications it lacks strength next to Spain's Primera Liga and England's Premier League, the other members of the trio of domestic competitions that command most global respect.
And Inter would still be concerned about being paired with United, or indeed with Arsenal, in tomorrow's draw for the quarter-finals.
As for even calling their triumph at Chelsea an Italian Job, Italy's national coach, Marcello Lippi, was quick to point out yesterday, it is not quite that.
Inter's Portuguese head coach on Tuesday assembled a starting line up made of four Brazilians, four Argentines, a Dutchman, a Macedonian and a Cameroonian. There was a cameo appearance as a late substitute by one of Lippi's Italian World Cup holders, the veteran Marco Materazzi, but also a notable absence from the substitutes' bench of the Italy Under 21 international Mario Balotelli, who was left out of the squad after yet another row with Inter head coach Jose Mourinho.
A little sourly, Lippi asked: "What is there Italian about a team that includes no Italians and has a Portuguese coach?"
Had he looked through the reactions among the defeated, he would have found an answer. In England, where pundits sometimes cling a little too eagerly to national stereotypes, Inter's performance was said to owe much to the traditions of tactical rigour, careful planning and effectiveness on the counter-attack associated with Serie A.
Mostly, the triumph was said to owe a huge debt to Mourinho. If he delivers the Champions League to Inter, Italy will owe him a good deal, too.
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.”
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Men’s:
Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY)
Ali Farag (EGY)
Simon Rosner (GER)
Tarek Momen (EGY)
Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL)
Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
Nick Matthew (ENG)
Women's:
Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
Raneem El Welily (EGY)
Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
Laura Massaro (ENG)
Joelle King (NZE)
Camille Serme (FRA)
Nouran Gohar (EGY)
Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT) unless stated
Tuesday
Sevilla v Maribor
Spartak Moscow v Liverpool
Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk
Napoli v Feyenoord
Besiktas v RB Leipzig
Monaco v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Tottenham Hotspur
Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid
Wednesday
Basel v Benfica
CSKA Moscow Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich
Anderlecht v Celtic
Qarabag v Roma (8pm)
Atletico Madrid v Chelsea
Juventus v Olympiakos
Sporting Lisbon v Barcelona
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister. "We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know. “All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.” It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins. Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement. The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
