Atletico Madrid v Chelsea, April 22
The best defence in this year’s European competitions takes on the most derided collection of strikers. Or at least, that’s how the Chelsea trio made up of Samuel Eto’o, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba must feel after having been collectively and in some cases individually criticised by their manager Jose Mourinho in recent weeks.
All three were together on the field as Chelsea chased qualification from their quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain last Tuesday night, Ba eventually jabbing in the goal that saw Mourinho’s team through from a tie in which they gained their winning advantage only three minutes from the end.
These two have recent history. Atletico walloped Chelsea in the 2012 European Super Cup and, although in the past two decades the Londoners have accumulated far more experience at this stage of the Champions League than Atletico, the Spanish league-leaders do not play like novices.
Organised and well used to long Cup runs – they have won the Europa League twice in the past four seasons. Their concerns over the depth of their squad as they challenge for a prestigious double would seem greater than Chelsea’s. Yet they eliminated Barcelona in the previous phase with striker Diego Costa out injured for most of the tie and midfielder Arda Turan absent in the second leg.
Uefa yesterday confirmed that Thibaut Courtois, the Chelsea goalkeeper on loan at Atletico, could not be prevented from playing and that a reported clause in his agreement, stating the borrowing club must pay the lender several million euros if he plays against Chelsea, would be unenforceable in their competitions. It will still be two hard nights for the excellent Belgian.
Real Madrid v Bayern Munich, April 23
If Real Madrid are to win a long-awaited 10th European Cup, it will come to them via the autobahn. Schalke were overwhelmed in the last-16 stage, Borussia Dortmund toppled, by an uncomfortably fine margin, in the quarters and Madrid now meet the favourites, the holders and some familiar individual foes, in the semi-final.
Time was that anybody from Germany gave Madrid the jitters, and it is still an awkward fact their 6-1 victory at Schalke was only the second time in 26 competitive visits to a Bundesliga club that Madrid had won. When Dortmund hurried to a 2-0 lead last Tuesday, Real suffered, but held on for a 3-2 aggregate win on the back of their first, home-leg efforts.
Bayern knocked out Madrid two years ago in the semis, a scintillating tie eventually decided on penalties at the Bernabeu. Arjen Robben, a former Madrid player, played a key part, and again will relish showing his former club they may have been negligent in letting him go, albeit to accommodate Cristiano Ronaldo, the leading scorer this season in the Champions League.
The tie may well be won and lost on the flanks: Bayern’s Robben and Franck Ribery versus Ronaldo and Gareth Bale and, more significantly, examinations for the young full-backs David Alaba, of Bayern, and Dani Carvajal, of Madrid, while the German club’s coach Pepe Guardiola must decide whether to use captain Philipp Lahm in midfield or marking Ronaldo, while Carlo Ancelotti, Madrid’s coach, hopes left-back Marcelo’s recovery from injury – he’s due back next week – remains on schedule.
The 100 Best Novels in Translation
Boyd Tonkin, Galileo Press
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat & Other Stories From the North
Edited and Introduced by Sjón and Ted Hodgkinson
Pushkin Press
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.”
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
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
