BARCELONA // Barcelona’s dream of matching their 2009 achievement and winning all six trophies available in a calendar year is over. The Catalans had already triumphed in the European Cup, Primera Liga, Copa del Rey and European Super Cup, but they could only draw 1-1 at home to Athletic Bilbao on Monday night in a heated, absorbing, encounter, losing the final 5-1 on aggregate after Friday’s 4-0 Spanish Super Cup first-leg defeat in Bilbao.
For the Basque side, four time finalists against Barca in cup competitions since their last silverware and finalists in the 2012 Europa League, it represents a first trophy in 31 years. They were outstanding at home in the first leg thanks to a Mikel San Jose goal from the halfway line and an Aritz Aduriz hat-trick.
Luis Enrique had understandably fielded a weaker Barca team given the first leg was just three nights after their extra-time European Super Cup triumph in Tbilisi, but ahead of the second leg, Luis Enrique pointed out that Barca had scored four goals or more on 18 occasions last season. The chance of a comeback remained slight.
Amid a superb atmosphere, the organised Athletic side were in no rush, taking their time from the start with every stoppage. It infuriated the huge home crowd, but only as Neymar’s theatrics in the Copa del Rey final had angered the Athletic players.
‘I don’t want to go but it is complicated’: Pedro opens up about leaving Barca for Man United
Barca were dominant in possession, as normal, but were caught offside four times before Pedro swung and missed a 28th-minute opportunity from the edge of the box. That summed up Barcelona’s first half. The Manchester United target, who Barca always wanted to keep for the three Super Cup matches, then lost possession six minutes before the break. The ball fell to Javier Eraso, who beat Javier Mascherano before shooting into the side netting rather than pass to Aduriz in the centre.
Barcelona got the breakthrough a minute before half time when Luis Suarez chested down an Ivan Rakitic cross. The ball fell to Lionel Messi, who also chested it before volleying past Gorka Iraizoz from close range, then kissing his club badge on his shirt. It was a lifeline which lifted the uncharacteristically noisy crowd further.
The noise level went even higher as the Basque goalkeeper smothered the ball inside his own goal, prompting indignation from the Barcelona players who thought he was time-wasting, of whom Pedro was booked. It was the normally placid forward’s third yellow card in three Super Cup games in six days.
Ernesto Valverde’s side continued to be booed as the first half ended promptly, but the crowd’s anger remained palpable at the start of the second period when Athletic looked livelier, twice testing Claudio Bravo.
Unable to get the breakthroughs, the home players became increasingly frustrated and Gerard Pique was sent off in the 55th minute for swearing at the linesman.
Aduriz and Benat were booked for the visitors as the game became increasingly heated. Pedro was substituted after 67 minutes, kicking a water bottle and then his boots off as he returned to the bench. There was no fairytale ending to this final for him, as in Georgia six days previous.
If he were distracted, it is understandable — his transfer to Manchester United has not been concluded, though United’s Ed Woodward was in Barcelona for talks ahead of the Super Cup. United have offered €25 million (Dh101.6m) for Pedro, still short of Barca’s €30m buyout clause.
As the clocked ticked down, Aduriz equalised in the 75th minute with a simple tap-in, though Athletic were reduced to 10 men when substitute Kike Sola was sent off seven minutes after entering the pitch for standing on Mascherano. It mattered little, for Athletic were soon celebrating with the cup, the first trophy for Valverde, and being applauded by the home players and fans.
“The first half was very hard because they are very good and pressed a lot,” Valverde said. “In the second half we were good and we reached our objective. From the outside you might think we didn’t feel it too badly but yes, when they scored, we were shaken.
“We’ve finally achieved the trophy that these people deserve.”
“We gave it everything we had and never stopped fighting. The players deserve this and so do the fans. This was a long time coming but the most important value in our team is solidarity. That’s the important thing. We are a team, we are Athletic.”
“You need to know how to win and how to lose,” Luis Enrique said. “Sometimes it’s good to lose to realise how difficult and how nice it is to win. I offer congratulations to Athletic; they deserved to win the tie. My team did well, but the game ended at the moment of the red card.”
Barca’s next game? They play Athletic Bilbao yet again, in the season-opener in Bilbao on Sunday.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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 specs: 2019 BMW X4
Price, base / as tested: Dh276,675 / Dh346,800
Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged in-line six-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 354hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 1,550rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.0L / 100km
The biog
Age: 35
Inspiration: Wife and kids
Favourite book: Changes all the time but my new favourite is Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Best Travel Destination: Bora Bora , French Polynesia
Favourite run: Jabel Hafeet, I also enjoy running the 30km loop in Al Wathba cycling track
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
Without Remorse
Directed by: Stefano Sollima
Starring: Michael B Jordan
4/5
