Rio Ferdinand will miss Manchester United's opening Champions League game against Benfica in Lisbon on Wednesday.
Ferdinand was not in the 19-man squad that flew to Portugal yesterday, meaning United are without their first-choice central defensive pairing as Nemanja Vidic is missing with a calf problem.
There was no place either for Federico Macheda or Mame Biram Diouf, who scored twice for the reserves in their win over Fulham on Monday, but Jonny Evans and Patrice Evra shrugged off hip and knee knocks picked up at Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.
It is not thought Ferdinand has suffered a fresh injury. However, after making his first appearance in a month during the 5-0 romp at the Reebok Stadium, and with Chelsea due at Old Trafford on Sunday, Sir Alex Ferguson is not wanting to take any chances with the 32 year old, whose fitness record has been patchy over the past few years. With Ferdinand out, it is likely to mean a move into central defence for Phil Jones, outstanding at full-back on Saturday, who would be making his debut in the competition.
Michael Owen, fresh from watching his horse Brown Panther finish second in the St Leger, was also named, although if changes are made to Ferguson's attacking line-up, Dimitar Berbatov, last season's joint Golden Boot winner, would appear to have more of a claim.
Ferguson has suggested he will rely on experience, which could be good news for Darren Fletcher, Park Ji-sung and Ryan Giggs, who have been reduced in peripheral roles so far this term.
The United boss must also decide whether to hand Anders Lindegaard his competitive debut, or stick with David de Gea, who has been steadily improving after a shaky start to his United career.
It is less than four months since Ferguson's team were put in their place by Barcelona in the final at Wembley.
However, as comprehensive as that defeat was, Michael Carrick refuses to beat himself up about it.
"The Champions League final doesn't still hurt," said the 30 year old. "It was disappointing because we lost the final but it wasn't a massive failure. I haven't watched it again. I went on my holidays and focused on this season. You have to accept they were good. It is up to us to be better."
The quest for this season's Champions League looks a lot more positive than it did at the start of summer thanks to the infusion of so many electrifying young talents into Ferguson's team.
Carrick, Park, Giggs, Fletcher and Antonio Valencia have been rarely seen this season, the latter duo not even getting a place on the bench so far. That is all likely to change tonight if Ferguson sticks with wanting to give his more experienced campaigners a run out.
Carrick understands why he has had to be so patient. It is not just Ferguson who has been enthused by the contribution of the younger players. He has felt the same emotions. And though Tom Cleverley's absence with damaged ligaments has offered a route back to the first team, the Geordie is disappointed his teammate will be missing.
"The young lads have come out flying," Carrick said. "It is great to see them bursting through. The buzz around the squad is fantastic.
"There is enthusiasm and energy and the whole thing has gone up a notch. That has shown on the pitch, so Tom's injury is a bitter blow."
OTHER GAMES
Villarreal v Bayern Munich
With seven goals in his last two games, Mario Gomez, the Bayern Munich striker, insists his purple patch is because of his hard-working teammates as they prepare for their Wednesday Champions League tie at Villarreal. Gomez scored four goals in Bayern's crushing 7-0 win over Freiburg last Saturday in the German league having netted a hat-trick on his previous appearance at Kaiserslautern. "We have 11 players who understand each other perfectly," said Gomez. 10.45pm (UAE), Aljazeera Sport +2
Inter Milan v Trabzonspor
Inter Milan’s defence will be under scrutiny when they play their first competitive match of the season at the San Siro in the Champions League against Trabzonspor. Inter’s two competitive games so far have ended in defeat, to AC Milan in the Italian Supercup in Beijing and on Sunday in Sicily to Palermo. Gian Piero Gasperini, the coach, has already courted much controversy with his highly publicised switch to a back three from a back four. 10.45pm, Aljazeera Sport +9
Dinamo Zagreb v Real Madrid
Real Madrid will begin their quest for a 10th European Cup without Kaka and their coach Jose Mourinho against Dinamo Zagreb tonight. Kaka will not make the trip to Zagreb because of a reported heel injury, while Mourinho serves the second of a three-match ban resulting from his outburst during the semi-final series against Barcelona last season. Real's excellent start to the season makes them favourites to come top of Group D. 10.45pm, Aljazeera Sport +5
Lille v CSKA Moscow
Eden Hazard, the Lille midfielder, is looking forward to making his Champions League debut against CSKA Moscow. The Belgium international will get the chance to test himself against Europe's elite after he played a major role in Lille's breakthrough Ligue 1 success last term. Hazard enjoyed a stellar campaign that drew the interest of clubs around Europe, with Lille reportedly turning down a number of bids for the 20 year old in the summer. 10.45pm, Aljazeera Sport +6
Basle v Otelul Galati
Thorsten Fink, the Basle manager, is hoping some consistency can get their Champions League campaign off to a strong start against Otelul Galati, the Romanian champions. Basle also started against Romanian opposition at this stage last season, and fell to a 2-1 defeat to CFR 1907 Cluj after conceding twice in the first 12 minutes. But after watching them thrash Servette 4-0 on Saturday in the league, Fink believes his team can do better this time. 10.45pm, Aljazeera Sport +8
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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
Overview
What: The Arab Women’s Sports Tournament is a biennial multisport event exclusively for Arab women athletes.
When: From Sunday, February 2, to Wednesday, February 12.
Where: At 13 different centres across Sharjah.
Disciplines: Athletics, archery, basketball, fencing, Karate, table tennis, shooting (rifle and pistol), show jumping and volleyball.
Participating countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Qatar and UAE.
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: BorrowMe (BorrowMe.com)
Date started: August 2021
Founder: Nour Sabri
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce / Marketplace
Size: Two employees
Funding stage: Seed investment
Initial investment: $200,000
Investors: Amr Manaa (director, PwC Middle East)
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.”
FOOTBALL TEST
Team X 1 Team Y 0
Scorers
Red card
Man of the Match
57%20Seconds
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The team
Videographer: Jear Velasquez
Photography: Romeo Perez
Fashion director: Sarah Maisey
Make-up: Gulum Erzincan at Art Factory
Models: Meti and Clinton at MMG
Video assistant: Zanong Maget
Social media: Fatima Al Mahmoud
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Company Profile
Founders: Tamara Hachem and Yazid Erman
Based: Dubai
Launched: September 2019
Sector: health technology
Stage: seed
Investors: Oman Technology Fund, angel investor and grants from Sharjah's Sheraa and Ma'an Abu Dhabi
BACK%20TO%20ALEXANDRIA
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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
SM Town Live is on Friday, April 6 at Autism Rocks Arena, Dubai. Tickets are Dh375 at www.platinumlist.net
Company profile: buybackbazaar.com
Name: buybackbazaar.com
Started: January 2018
Founder(s): Pishu Ganglani and Ricky Husaini
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech, micro finance
Initial investment: $1 million
Secret Nation: The Hidden Armenians of Turkey
Avedis Hadjian, (IB Tauris)
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
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
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
