Luis Suarez scored his first hat-trick for Barcelona as the Catalan club crushed Cordoba 8-0 on Saturday to take another step towards the La Liga title.
Cordoba, who haven’t won since January, held out for 42 minutes, but a four-goal blitz in 11 minutes either side of half-time ended their return to the top flight after just one season.
Ivan Rakitic smashed home the opener in style before Suarez added the second with the final touch of the first-half.
Lionel Messi, Suarez and Gerard Pique all then headed home before Messi had the simplest of finishes to roll in his 40th league goal of the season to move one ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo as the league’s top goalscorer.
Messi then allowed Neymar to convert from the penalty spot before Suarez completed his hat-trick two minutes from time.
Victory takes Barca five points clear of Real Madrid, who face a tough trip to Sevilla later on Saturday.
Cordoba could yet be handed a reprieve from relegation should Almeria lose their appeal against the deduction of three points for unpaid transfer fees, or Elche face sanctions for overdue debts to the tax authorities.
“Until the first goal we had created a lot of chances and were fearing it wouldn’t be our day,” said Barca manager Luis Enrique.
“The goals from Ivan and Luis helped us and in the second-half we were very effective in front of goal. I am happy because they are three very important points.”
Despite Wednesday’s looming meeting with former Barca boss Pep Guardiola and German champions Bayern Munich in their Champions League semi-final, first-leg, Enrique named his strongest available side.
Neymar wasted a great chance to get the visitors off to a flying start when he volleyed over from Alves’s cross.
Messi also uncharacteristically passed up a great opportunity to open the scoring as he shot straight at Juan Carlos after brilliantly dribbling past three defenders, whilst another Neymar mishit shot came back off the post.
However, it was only a matter of time before the league leaders made the breakthrough and they did so in style when Messi’s lovely cushioned pass picked out Rakitic and he crashed a shot into the roof of the net.
Suarez made it 2-0 just before the break when he latched onto a similar pass from Andres Iniesta to sneak the ball between Carlos’s legs.
The one way traffic continued after the break as Messi expertly nodded home Alves’s inch-perfect cross just a minute into the second-half.
Alves’s brilliant form in recent weeks has been unimpeded by ongoing speculation over his future as he once more bombed to the right to cross for Suarez to head in his 23rd goal of the season.
Neymar’s off-day in front of goal continued when he sliced wide with just the keeper to beat from Suarez’s inviting pass.
However, Barca didn’t have to wait long for a fifth as Pique rose unchallenged to head in from Xavi’s corner 25 minutes from time.
Messi rolled home the sixth into an empty net thanks to unselfish play by Neymar and the four-time World Player of the Year returned the favour by allowing the Brazilian to slot home from the penalty spot after he had been felled by Adrian Gunino.
And Suarez rounded off the scoring by completing his first Barca hat-trick with a simple finish after Xavi’s blocked effort had left the helpless Carlos on the floor.
Elsewhere, Atletico Madrid failed to nail down third place and an automatic return to the Champions League next season as they were held 0-0 at home by Athletic Bilbao.
Atletico had two goals wrongly ruled out for offside after the break through Antoine Griezmann and Tiago as the Basques held on for a point which moves them up to seventh.
Diego Simeone’s men now lead Sevilla and Valencia by seven points in the battle for the Champions League places.
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Tips for holiday homeowners
There are several factors for landlords to consider when preparing to establish a holiday home:
- Revenue potential of the unit: location, view and size
- Design: furnished or unfurnished. Is the design up to standard, while being catchy at the same time?
- Business model: will it be managed by a professional operator or directly by the owner, how often does the owner wants to use it for personal reasons?
- Quality of the operator: guest reviews, customer experience management, application of technology, average utilisation, scope of services rendered
Source: Adam Nowak, managing director of Ultimate Stay Vacation Homes Rental
Company Profile
Name: HyveGeo
Started: 2023
Founders: Abdulaziz bin Redha, Dr Samsurin Welch, Eva Morales and Dr Harjit Singh
Based: Cambridge and Dubai
Number of employees: 8
Industry: Sustainability & Environment
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More from Neighbourhood Watch:
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.”
