South Korea’s Ki Sung-Yueng stunned Chelsea as the Sunderland midfielder’s first goal for the club sealed a shock 2-1 win in the League Cup quarter-finals, while Manchester City swept into the last four with a 3-1 victory at Leicester on Tuesday.
Gus Poyet’s team had been on the verge of defeat at the Stadium of Light after goal-line technology was used for the first time in the League Cup to give Chelsea the lead through Lee Cattermole’s own goal in the opening minute of the second half.
But Fabio Borini equalised for the Premier League’s bottom club in the 88th minute and Ki sent Sunderland into the semi-finals with a cool finish two minutes from the end of extra time.
It was Ki’s first goal in 13 appearances for the Black Cats since his loan switch from Swansea, with whom he won the League Cup last season, in September.
Ki had never scored in English football since moving to Swansea from Celtic in 2012, and this was his first club goal since he netted for the Scottish giants at Hibernian in February 2012.
“It was just unbelievable, I didn’t expect to score but I am really pleased to help the team go through,” Ki told Sky Sports.
“This was a very hard game for us, but we didn’t give up. The boys played unbelievable.”
It was a dispiriting night for Jose Mourinho, who won the League Cup twice in his first spell in charge of the west London club but saw his fears about his shot-shy team confirmed during a lacklustre display.
“We never lost a match because we didn’t play or that the opponent was stronger, it’s just we don’t kill opponents and we give them life,” Mourinho said.
“Every opponent knows they can score a goal against us. We had fantastic chances to score and didn’t score.”
After struggling to find any rhythm in a tepid opening 45 minutes, Chelsea took the lead less than 60 seconds after the break.
Frank Lampard was challenged by Cattermole near the goal-line as the pair competed for Cesar Azpilicueta’s low cross and the ball rolled into the net.
Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone tried to claw the ball out from behind the line, but the goal was correctly given, with referee Anthony Taylor pointing to his watch to indicate goal-line technology had been used to confirm the decision.
It was the first time goal-line technology had been used in the League Cup, although the system was established in the Premier League at the start of this season.
Sunderland equalised when on-loan Liverpool striker Borini fired home from an acute angle after a driving run from Jozy Altidore.
And Ki eventually sealed the win in extra-time with a clinical low strike from Borini’s pass.
At the King Power Stadium, City were effectively through to the semi-finals by half-time as they finally took their free-scoring home form on the road.
Manuel Pellegrini’s men were on top right from the start and took the lead in the ninth minute when Serbian defender Aleksandar Kolarov whipped a fine 25-yard free-kick into the top corner of Kasper Schmeichel’s goal.
There was a setback for City moments later as Argentine right-back Pablo Zabaleta was forced to come off with a hamstring injury.
Leicester sit third in the Championship yet they offered minimal resistance and City increased their lead in the 41st minute.
It was a sweeping move as Jesus Navas teed up James Milner and the England winger’s cross picked out Dzeko, who headed home emphatically from close-range.
Bosnian striker Dzeko struck again in the 53rd minute, this time scuffing his shot past Schmeichel from another Milner cross.
Leicester replied in the 77th minute through Lloyd Dyer’s deflected shot, but City, who haven’t reached the League Cup final since 1976, were never in danger of blowing their lead.
“We had a very good first half, and dominated the game,” Pellegrini said.
“It is an important competition, it is important to win every game you play in and to get to the final at Wembley would be wonderful for the supporters.”
On Wednesday, the other two quarter-finals see Tottenham host West Ham in the north London club’s first match since the sacking of manager Andre Villas-Boas on Monday, while Manchester United travel to Stoke.
U19 World Cup in South Africa
Group A: India, Japan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka
Group B: Australia, England, Nigeria, West Indies
Group C: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Scotland, Zimbabwe
Group D: Afghanistan, Canada, South Africa, UAE
UAE fixtures
Saturday, January 18, v Canada
Wednesday, January 22, v Afghanistan
Saturday, January 25, v South Africa
UAE squad
Aryan Lakra (captain), Vriitya Aravind, Deshan Chethyia, Mohammed Farazuddin, Jonathan Figy, Osama Hassan, Karthik Meiyappan, Rishabh Mukherjee, Ali Naseer, Wasi Shah, Alishan Sharafu, Sanchit Sharma, Kai Smith, Akasha Tahir, Ansh Tandon
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
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.”
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, last-16, second leg (first-leg scores in brackets):
PSG (2) v Manchester United (0)
Midnight (Thursday), BeIN Sports
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
