Dirk Kuyt, the Liverpool striker, headed a late goal to send the five-times European champions into the last 16 of the Europa League with a 1-0 victory over a defiant Sparta Prague at Anfield on Thursday night.
Ajax Amsterdam and Benfica, two other big names in European football, also went through, the Dutch beating Anderlecht 2-0 and the Portuguese winning by the same score at VfB Stuttgart.
PSV Eindhoven beat Lille 3-1 to progress from a meeting of Dutch and French league leaders while Russian pair Zenit St Petersburg and Spartak Moscow overcame Swiss opposition in frigid conditions.
Germany captain Michael Ballack was among the scorers as Bayer Leverkusen beat Metalist Kharkiv 2-0 to complete a 6-0 aggregate victory over the Ukrainians.
Big-spending Manchester City qualified with a 3-0 win over Aris Salonika, helped by two goals in the first 12 minutes from recent Bosnian signing Edin Dzeko after a goalless first leg. Yaya Toure added the third with a deflected shot.
They will face Dynamo Kiev, who beat Besiktas 4-0 with Andriy Shevchenko among the scorers for an emphatic 8-1 aggregate scoreline.
Italy's interest ended when Villarreal beat Napoli 2-1 following last week's goalless draw. The Spanish side will now meet Leverkusen.
In Kenny Dalglish's first European home match as Liverpool manager - the club were banned from Europe during his previous stint - Kuyt headed in from a corner after 86 minutes to secure victory over the Czechs with extra time looming.
"We deserved it, we had a lot of chances," Dalglish told Britain's Channel 5 television. "Even after we scored we had a couple. Tough opposition but they hung in, great credit to the lads for their determination and effort to get a result."
The first leg had ended goalless in Prague. Liverpool will face Braga, who beat Lech Poznan 2-0 for a 2-1 aggregate win, in the next round.
Serb Miralem Sulejmani scored two early goals as four-times European champions Ajax completed a 5-0 win over their Belgian opponents and former Uefa Cup winners Anderlecht.
Benfica's Eduardo Salvio and Oscar Cardozo, two members of their South American contingent, completed a 4-1 aggregate win for the former European champions over Stuttgart.
The Portuguese will next play Paris St Germain after the French side went through on away goals against Bate Borisov.
Pierre-Alain Frau gave Lille a halftime lead at PSV but Balasz Dzsudzsak, Jeremain Lens and Marcelo replied for the Dutch in an 18-minute spell as they won 5-3 on aggregate.
Zenit St Petersburg, the Russian champions and 2008 Uefa Cup winners, came back from the brink of elimination to beat Young Boys Berne 3-1 and 4-3 on aggregate.
Ammar Jemal gave the Swiss the lead in a game which kicked off in a temperature of minus 9 Celsius, slightly warmer than predicted earlier this week.
Danko Lazovic and Sergei Semak replied for Zenit either side of halftime and Roman Shirokov scored the winner.
Spartak Moscow drew 1-1 at home to FC Basel in even colder conditions - around minus 15 - to go through 4-3 on aggregate and earn a tie against Ajax.
With CSKA Moscow qualifying on Wednesday for a last 16 tie with Porto, compatriots Rubin Kazan, who squandered a 2-0 lead at Twente Enschede to draw 2-2 and lose 4-2 on aggregate, were the only Russian side to go out.
Twente will play Zenit in the next round.
Rangers grabbed a stoppage time equaliser through Edu in a 2-2 draw at Sporting that sent the Scottish side through on away goals to set up a clash with PSV.
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The biog
Hobby: Playing piano and drawing patterns
Best book: Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
Food of choice: Sushi
Favourite colour: Orange
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
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.”
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
TRAINING FOR TOKYO
A typical week's training for Sebastian, who is competing at the ITU Abu Dhabi World Triathlon on March 8-9:
- Four swim sessions (14km)
- Three bike sessions (200km)
- Four run sessions (45km)
- Two strength and conditioning session (two hours)
- One session therapy session at DISC Dubai
- Two-three hours of stretching and self-maintenance of the body
ITU Abu Dhabi World Triathlon
For more information go to www.abudhabi.triathlon.org.
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPowertrain%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle%20electric%20motor%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E201hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E310Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E53kWh%20lithium-ion%20battery%20pack%20(GS%20base%20model)%3B%2070kWh%20battery%20pack%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETouring%20range%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E350km%20(GS)%3B%20480km%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh129%2C900%20(GS)%3B%20Dh149%2C000%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
The specs: Macan Turbo
Engine: Dual synchronous electric motors
Power: 639hp
Torque: 1,130Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Touring range: 591km
Price: From Dh412,500
On sale: Deliveries start in October
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
MATCH INFO
Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Namibia beat Oman by 52 runs
UAE beat Namibia by eight wickets
UAE v Oman - abandoned
Oman v Namibia - abandoned
Bharat
Director: Ali Abbas Zafar
Starring: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sunil Grover
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars