Atletico Madrid kept their slim chances of Uefa Champions League progress alive as Antoine Griezmann snapped an eight-game goal drought in spectacular fashion with an overhead kick to help see off Roma 2-0 on Wednesday.
Kevin Gameiro added a second five minutes from time for Atletico, who still need Roma to drop points at home to Azerbaijani champions Qarabag and to beat the already-qualified Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on December 5 to reach the last 16.
"We will try until the end. We knew it was important to win today and now we'll see what happens," Griezmann told BeIN Sports Spain.
However, the relief around the Wanda Metropolitano was palpable as Atletico at least ended a five-game winless streak at their new 68,000-capacity home.
"There is still a game to go and, until the 90 minutes is over, we have to think positively," Atletico manager Diego Simeone said.
Twice finalists in the past four seasons, Atletico's remote chances of reaching the last 16 took another blow before kick-off as Chelsea swept aside 10-man Qarabag 4-0 in Baku to secure their place in the knockout phase.
The English champions, on 10 points, are now also in pole position to go through as group winners with Roma on eight and Atletico two points further adrift.
"We can't forget who we were playing against, they are a historic team in this competition," Roma manager Eusebio di Francesco said. "It is an honour to be playing to qualify with one game to go. This defeat will help us improve and I saw things that I liked despite the result."
Despite a far from full stadium, those that did make it to the game showed their support for the under-fire Griezmann, who was jeered off by some supporters in Saturday's goalless Madrid derby, by chanting his name from the start.
"I think the night started well with the support from the fans," Simeone added. "We fed off that positive energy, we found ourselves again and we found an Antoine who is a special player, and got back to playing a great match."
As they have for much of this season, Atletico lacked inspiration before half time and, even when they did put the ball in the net, did not have luck on their side.
Augusto Fernandez's deflected effort looped into the far corner four minutes before the break, but Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers controversially ruled the goal out for a handball as the Argentine controlled before shooting.
Simeone showed some attacking intent early in the second half as he sacrificed Fernandez for the more forward-thinking Angel Correa.
However, Atletico were nearly undone at the other end in bizarre circumstances when Radja Nainggolan's mishit cross came off Jan Oblak's near post with the surprised Slovenian scrambling back to cover his goal.
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Correa's presence paid off though, as he was key to Griezmann's moment of magic 21 minutes from time.
The Argentine stretched to loft a cross from the byline to the back post, where the ball found Griezmann unmarked and ready to contort his body and smash home a spectacular overhead opener.
Atletico's task was made even easier seven minutes from time when Bruno Peres was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge on Filipe Luis.
And two minutes later Gameiro made the game safe when he raced onto Griezmann's pass and rounded Alisson before calmly slotting home from a narrow angle as Atletico scored twice in a match for the first time in two months and gave themselves a chance of salvation at Chelsea next month.
Drivers’ championship standings after Singapore:
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - 263
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - 235
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes - 212
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull - 162
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari - 138
6. Sergio Perez, Force India - 68
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.”
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