MILAN // Argentine Mauro Icardi struck late as Inter Milan got back to winning ways under the watchful eyes of former coach Jose Mourinho and striker Ronaldo with a 3-1 win over Sampdoria on Saturday.
Inter had secured just one victory in their past seven games and were especially desperate for a win after falling to Khouma Babacar’s late strike in a 2-1 reverse at Fiorentina last week.
That result virtually ended Inter’s title hopes, but Roberto Mancini’s men are among several sides chasing a top three finish in a bid to secure Uefa Champions League football next season.
Read more: 'I'm not looking for a club' says Jose Mourinho, rather clubs 'are looking at me'
Inter’s 14th win in 26 games lifted them one place to fourth, 10 points behind leaders Juventus but only one behind third-placed Fiorentina ahead of the latter’s trip to Atalanta on Sunday.
“It was important to win tonight. When you’re going through difficult times, you have to know when to turn things around by playing tightly and seizing all your opportunities,” Mancini said.
If Mancini felt under pressure after last week’s defeat, he probably had reason to feel even more so after the club announced Mourinho and Ronaldo would be special guests at the San Siro.
Mourinho, sacked by Chelsea two months ago but tipped to take over at Manchester United, steered Inter to the first treble in Italian football history when they won the league, Coppa Italia and Champions League in 2010.
But Mancini said: “Mourinho was Inter’s coach for two years and is part of the club’s history, the same for Ronaldo. I don’t see anything wrong” with their presence.
Inter survived several early scares from Vincenzo Montella’s visitors to break the deadlock on 23 minutes when Danilo D’Ambrosio volleyed Marcelo Brozovic’s header from a corner past Emiliano Viviano to score his first goal for the club.
Inter reject Andrea Ranocchia looked fired up for the encounter and the towering defender twice came close, bundling a header from a corner just over and then failing to make contact at the back post when a cross deflected off Icardi.
Inter, however, soon took command of the game and doubled their lead on 57 minutes when Brazilian defender Joao Miranda, also hitting his maiden goal for Inter, got his head to a loose ball at the back post.
Although Viviano clawed the ball out the net, television replays showed it had crossed by at least a foot.
When Ranocchia gave possession away cheaply 17 minutes from the finish, Icardi was sent down the middle by Brozovic and held off two defenders chasing back to beat Viviano with a deft touch from the outside of his boot.
Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic’s hopes for a clean sheet were dashed in the second minute of added-on time when recent Samp signing Fabio Quagliarella fired a superb, angled strike from the edge of the area past the Slovenian ‘keeper at the death.
It was his first goal in his second spell at the club, but did little to fix the Genoa club’s woes.
Sampdoria remain fourth from bottom just three points ahead of third-from-bottom Frosinone and Montella told Sky Sport: “Obviously, we can’t afford to feel relaxed. When you see our league position we have plenty of reason to feel scared.
“At times we dominated Inter, but when you play as well as we did and come away with a defeat like that then something’s wrong.”
Earlier, Verona breathed life into their survival bid with a 3-1 derby win, just their second win of the campaign, over city rivals Chievo.
Verona remain bottom of the table, meaning Luigi Delneri’s men still face an anxious run-in to the end of the season.
But striker Giampaolo Pazzini, who hit Verona’s second goal, said the players won’t quit: “We believe we can stay up. We all know how difficult that’s going to be but we have to have faith.
“We won’t give up till it’s finished.”
After Juventus were held to a scoreless draw at Bologna on Friday, Napoli will go top of the pile with a one-point lead on the champions if they beat AC Milan on Monday.
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The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 2 (Benzema 13', Kroos 28')
Barcelona 1 (Mingueza 60')
Red card: Casemiro (Real Madrid)
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.
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
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.
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.”
Juventus v Napoli, Sunday, 10.45pm (UAE)
Match on Bein Sports
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
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
