Real Madrid 0 Barcelona 4 (Suarez 10’, 74’, Neymar 40’, Iniesta 52’)
Luis Suarez looked every bit the €80 million (Dh313m) centre forward when he put Barcelona ahead after 11 minutes in Saturday night's clasico, but the man who provided the assist did not cost a penny.
Barcelona manager Luis Enrique made a big decision to start 23-year-old Sergi Roberto for the first time against Real Madrid, especially as it also meant keeping Lionel Messi on the bench. But the Catalan quickly justified it by accelerating through Barca's midfield to set up Suarez.
Three minutes later, he set up Ivan Rakitic, a player once considered another obstacle to Roberto’s first-team aspirations, but the Croatian blazed over the bar.
Roberto has been a revelation thanks to his coach, who has switched him from an assiduous central or defensive midfielder to a tireless right-back who can play anywhere on the right.
Enrique tried it in pre-season against Manchester United and Chelsea in the United States because of an injury to Dani Alves, the departure of Marc Montoya and the sanctions preventing Aleix Vidal from playing.
He liked what he saw and, when Roberto was outstanding against Atletico Madrid in the Calderon in September, he made his mind up: this was a player for the biggest games.
In the Bernabeu, Roberto started up front alongside Neymar and Suarez.
[Gallery: Barcelona run riot at Real Madrid to pile the pressure on Benites - in pictures]
Roberto has featured in a Bernabeu clasico before, in 2011 when Pep Guardiola saw enough in the 19 year old to bring him on for David Villa, but until this season he has been considered a fringe player, one faced with the dilemma of limited minutes at Barca (he played only 918 minutes last season, most of them in the Copa del Rey) or taking one of the many offers for him.
Valencia, Tottenham Hotspur and both Milan giants were among the clubs who have made offers and Roberto’s problem is similar to Marc Bartra, who grew up 12 miles from him in southern Catalonia.
Bartra is a Spain regular who performed well for his country midweek, but he did not even make the squad for the clasico and deleted a tweet saying how much he was looking forward to the match. Roberto has not made a full Spain debut, yet he has the confidence of Enrique.
“Look at Sergi Roberto for Barca,” former teammate Xavi said recently.
“He’s a different player. Why? Confidence. He knows Luis Enrique believes in him.
“Without that, it’s impossible to perform. Confidence is the greatest variable in life, not just in football.”
With the introduction of Messi after 56 minutes for Rakitic, Roberto switched into midfield to a backdrop of white cards held up by frustrated home fans who had seen their side, with several players looking short of fitness, outclassed.
The 200 travelling fans chorused that Madrid were going to the second division.
Goalscorers Neymar, Suarez and Andres Iniesta – to whom Roberto ran after scoring Barca’s third and who shredded the tightest defence in Spain – will continue to be more celebrated, but Roberto is a rising star, another product of Barca’s youth system.
He has already played more minutes this term than the whole of last season, and he capped his impressive display by cutting out a cross-field Madrid ball to start the move which saw Barca score their fourth.
They demolished Madrid, who they now lead by six points, thanks to their stars, but also the homegrown heroes like Roberto.
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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 specs
Engine: 4.0-litre, twin-turbocharged V8
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 630bhp
Torque: 900Nm
Price: Dh810,000
Boulder shooting victims
• Denny Strong, 20
• Neven Stanisic, 23
• Rikki Olds, 25
• Tralona Bartkowiak, 49
• Suzanne Fountain, 59
• Teri Leiker, 51
• Eric Talley, 51
• Kevin Mahoney, 61
• Lynn Murray, 62
• Jody Waters, 65
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Brolliology: A History of the Umbrella in Life and Literature
By Marion Rankine
Melville House
The bio
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite travel destination: Maldives and south of France
Favourite pastime: Family and friends, meditation, discovering new cuisines
Favourite Movie: Joker (2019). I didn’t like it while I was watching it but then afterwards I loved it. I loved the psychology behind it.
Favourite Author: My father for sure
Favourite Artist: Damien Hurst
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
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.”
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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
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Grubtech
Founders: Mohamed Al Fayed and Mohammed Hammedi
Launched: October 2019
Employees: 50
Financing stage: Seed round (raised $2 million)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
