■ Real Madrid v Barcelona, 10.45pm UAE time on Sunday, BeIN Sports
Andres Iniesta’s most recent match at the Bernabeu left him with a memory he will savour forever.
“It’s a rare thing when you’re leaving the pitch at an away stadium and the opposition fans are applauding you,” Iniesta said earlier this season.
Then he smiled. “It happened to me last time at Real Madrid.” Yes, at Real Madrid. That’s a rarity indeed for a career barcelonista.
That day, Iniesta had provided an exhibition of ... well, of pure Iniesta: Creative, constructive, darting here and there, with that uncanny sixth sense of how to be always in the right position, choosing the best possible pass.
And he did something else that hasn’t always been instinctively Iniesta. He walloped home a goal, struck from distance, with startling power.
It was Barcelona’s third of the game. By the time he was withdrawn by manager Luis Enrique to a standing ovation from many of the fans wearing white jerseys and Madrid scarves, Barcelona had scored their fourth. Madrid had been overwhelmed.
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■ Tony Adams: Left-field choice tasked with setting Granada straight
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That was only last season, although, viewed through the lens of recent weeks, and the build-up to Sunday’s showdown in Madrid between Spanish football’s Big Two, it can seem like an age ago.
Barcelona were European champions then, a few weeks shy of becoming World Club Champions, and holders of Spain’s major pair of domestic prizes.
The 4-0 away rout of their rivals left Madrid, naturally, in crisis. Rafa Benitez was fired as Madrid manager a few weeks later.
Less than 18 months on, Zinedine Zidane, elevated from the feeder team, Castilla, to succeed Benitez, eyes the prospect of guiding Madrid to their first European Cup, a trophy they hold, and Primera Liga double since 1958.
If Zidane will not say so, for fear of tempting fate, the second half of that pair of titles will look considerably closer if his team can increase a lead at the top of the table that currently stands at three points, with a game in hand, over second-placed Barca.
As Barcelona captain, Iniesta is obliged on Sunday to lift a mood of creeping gloom. He approaches the 35th clasico of his career having known worse circumstances in the see-sawing relationship between Barca and Madrid, but the sense of drift around his club is pronounced.
His own future, and the renewal of a contract that runs out next year, has been the subject of speculation in the last few days, although it is, as Enrique insisted last week, “ridiculous to think anybody could replace Iniesta”.
Talks about his next contract have merely be been parked until the end of the campaign, Iniesta, who turns 33 next month, says to reassure anxious fans.
That campaign will finish earlier than Iniesta or his colleagues had hoped. Barcelona will not be in June’s Uefa Champions League final in Cardiff, following elimination by Juventus in midweek, a 3-0 aggregate defeat through which the Primera Liga’s highest-scoring team looked unusually blunt in front of goal.
Barca’s strike-force should be their forte, and the club’s executives were on Friday pursuing various avenues of appeal to try to take maximum firepower to Madrid, arguing for an unlikely 11th hour reduction in the three-match suspension of Neymar that would make the Brazilian striker available for the fixture.
What Enrique knows for certain is this clasico will be his last as Barcelona manager. He announced in February he would depart at the end of his third season in charge, and if a rousing comeback, from 4-0 down in the club’s last-16 Champions League tie against Paris Saint-Germain suggested he might say goodbye in a blaze of glory, those hopes have steadily declined.
Barcelona do have a Copa del Rey final, where they will be favourites against Alaves, ahead of them, but feel they must take three points from the Spanish capital on Sunday to maintain the defence of their league title.
Iniesta was pleased that, as Barca were defied by Juventus at Camp Nou on Wednesday night, their supporters roared them on throughout a goalless second leg. “They were our 12th man,” remarked the captain.
The fans’ appreciation of a Barcelona that has supplied an unprecedented stack of silverware and of joy in the last decade, may not have been as startling as the applause Iniesta heard in Madrid 17 months ago, but it was still gratifying.
Player of the week - Gelson Martins (Sporting Lisbon)
There may be no finer nursery for great wingers than Sporting Lisbon, where two of this century’s Ballon D’Or winners, Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo learned their craft and the Euro 2016 winners Ricardo Quaresma and Nani both emerged. Gelson Martins may be the next in the illustrious line.
Benfica’s loss
Martins goes into Saturday’s Lisbon derby hoping to give Benfica, the league-leaders, cause to once again regret they were not sharp-eyed enough to keep him on the red side of the city. At the beginning of his teenage years, he was attending practice at Benfica’s youth headquarters. Sporting offered him an alternative, and, at their admired academy, he thrived, rising through the B team to earn his first professional contract three years ago.
Rising price
There have been two further contracts since, the latest signed in February, which runs until 2022 and includes a buyout clause of a whopping €60 million (Dh235.8m), acknowledgement of the growing market interest in a player who turns 22 next month. Martins insists he will not leave Sporting until he has won a title there. That is not on the cards this year, with the club third in the table, behind Benfica and Porto.
Marcelo’s nemesis
Martins’s showings in the group phase of this season’s Uefa Champions League alerted clubs outside Portugal to his big-game temperament. The skills were already well known, and indeed Real Madrid had tried to entice him to their academy three seasons ago. When he came with Sporting to Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium in the Champions League last September, he gave Madrid’s Marcelo, in particular, a severe test in what was a narrow 2-1 Madrid win.
Portfolio of tricks
Martins has a startling burst of speed among his assets, and a medley of manoeuvres to put uncertainty in the minds of his markers. Get too tight on him and he has a well-practised pirouette turn away from a challenge. A firm shot and a willingness to strike for goal from unlikely angles and distances are part of the package.
Island life
Martins was born in Cape Verde, the archipelago of islands once colonised by Portugal off the west coast of Africa. He has described sharpening his skills on stony, hard ground there as a child. At the age of eight, he moved with his parents to Portugal.
In Nani’s footsteps
He used to study the moves of Robinho, the deft dribbler of Brazil and Real Madrid, and among his youthful idols was Nani, once of Manchester United, who shares his Cape Verdean heritage, and the Sporting apprenticeship. They are now fellow Portugal internationals, Martins having won his first cap for the reigning European champions last October.
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WORLD CUP FINAL
England v South Africa
Yokohama International Stadium, Tokyo
Saturday, kick-off 1pm (UAE)
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
'Gehraiyaan'
Director:Shakun Batra
Stars:Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, Dhairya Karwa
Rating: 4/5
Sui Dhaaga: Made in India
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3.5/5
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.”
The bio
His favourite book - 1984 by George Orwell
His favourite quote - 'If you think education is expensive, try ignorance' by Derek Bok, Former President of Harvard
Favourite place to travel to - Peloponnese, Southern Greece
Favourite movie - The Last Emperor
Favourite personality from history - Alexander the Great
Role Model - My father, Yiannis Davos
More on animal trafficking
Gulf Under 19s final
Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B
Name: Brendalle Belaza
From: Crossing Rubber, Philippines
Arrived in the UAE: 2007
Favourite place in Abu Dhabi: NYUAD campus
Favourite photography style: Street photography
Favourite book: Harry Potter
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
Poland Statement
All people fleeing from Ukraine before the armed conflict are allowed to enter Poland. Our country shelters every person whose life is in danger - regardless of their nationality.
The dominant group of refugees in Poland are citizens of Ukraine, but among the people checked by the Border Guard are also citizens of the USA, Nigeria, India, Georgia and other countries.
All persons admitted to Poland are verified by the Border Guard. In relation to those who are in doubt, e.g. do not have documents, Border Guard officers apply appropriate checking procedures.
No person who has received refuge in Poland will be sent back to a country torn by war.
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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.
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
The Little Things
Directed by: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto
Four stars
