Football

Watch: Cristiano Ronaldo 'is a player who can cause a great mess to rivals' - Zidane

Real Madrid manager addressed the media ahead of his side's Primera Liga match against Real Betis on Sunday.

The National

February 17, 2018

Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane insists Cristiano Ronaldo should never be doubted as the Portuguese forward continues to rediscover his goalscoring form.

Ronaldo, 31, has scored 18 goals in his past 18 appearances in all competitions, including two goals in the 3-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the Uefa Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday.

While Ronaldo's 11 goals in 18 Primera Liga matches is a decent return, it falls short of his usual standards set in previous seasons, and has contributed to Madrid's domestic struggles that has seen the club fall 17 points behind rivals Barcelona in the Primera Liga table. Madrid are in fourth place, 10 points behind Atletico Madrid in second, albeit having played one game less.

__________________

Read more:

Advantage Ronaldo but Neymar warns Champions League tie not over yet

__________________

However, Ronaldo's form in the Champions League has been remarkable, with 11 goals scored in seven games to etch his name in the history books.

After the success against PSG in midweek, Ronaldo and Real Madrid turn their attention back to league duties on Sunday when they travel to face ninth-placed Real Betis, and Zidane has warned against writing off the threat posed by Ronaldo.

"Cristiano is one of those players you can´t doubt about, even when he´s not scoring," Zidane said during his pre-match press conference on Saturday. "He´s a player who can cause a great mess to the rival with very few chances to score and we all know this.

"I don´t know if he´s in his best shape now, but he knows there´s a long season ahead of us, we all know that, and he´ll be there. But we're all talking about the PSG second leg and there are five league matches before that. For me it is important what we are going to do before that."

Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
  1. Join parent networks
  2. Look beyond school fees
  3. Keep an open mind

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.”