English Premier League champions Manchester City cruised to a 5-1 triumph over Italy’s AC Milan on Sunday in a weather-hit friendly at Heinz Field, home of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers.
Manuel Pellegrini’s men stormed into an early 2-0 lead thanks to strikes from Stevan Jovetic in the 11th minute and Scott Sinclair in the 14th, the two making the most of a Milan defence that struggled with Manchester City’s pace down the right flank.
City continued to dominate and added a third as Jesus Navas’s acrobatic effort from outside the area was deflected past helpless Milan goalkeeper Michael Agazzi in the 23rd minute.
City added a fourth after 26 minutes when Nigerian teenager Kelechi Iheanacho, who has been training with the club for several weeks, picked the ball up on the edge of the box, turned and slotted it home.
Sulley Muntari pulled one back for Milan shortly before halftime, making it 4-1 going into the break which was extended as fans were cleared from the stands because of a heavy thunderstorm that brought lightning and a tornado warning.
The sides eventually emerged for the second half and the English outfit picked up where they had left off – Montenegro international Jovetic making it 5-1 in the 58th.
Former City striker Mario Balotelli, who sat out Milan’s 3-0 loss to Olympiakos in Toronto on Thursday, came on for the second half and had a goal ruled out for offside.
The match was part of the International Champions Cup, a collection of pre-season matches featuring eight European clubs all preparing for the start of their domestic campaigns.
At Soldier Field in Chicago, home of the NFL’s Bears, England international Raheem Sterling scored the only goal in Liverpool’s 1-0 victory over Olympiakos of Greece.
The winger struck after just five minutes, seizing upon a deflected strike by Daniel Sturridge and finishing.
Olympiakos came close to equalising, but Gevorg Ghazaryan was denied by the crossbar early in the second half.
A crowd of 36,170 turned out for the contest, in which Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers selected a starting side that included proven players such as Steven Gerrard, Sterling and Sturridge and also handed a maiden appearance for the club to recent recruit Lazar Markovic.
The result gave Liverpool a winning start to their International Champions Cup campaign, after they had fallen 1-0 to Roma in a friendly in Boston to start their North American tour.
Spanish champions Atletico Madrid were also stateside on Sunday for some pre-season action, taking a 4-3 win on penalties after playing to a 0-0 draw against Major League Soccer’s San Jose Earthquakes in San Francisco.
Saul scored in the fifth round of penalty kicks to lift Atletico. Guillherme Siqueira, Gabi and Mario Suarez also scored for Atletico in the tiebreaker. Sam Cronin, Shaun Francis and Brandon Barklage countered for the Earthquakes in front of 15,558 fans at the Copa Euroamericana game.
“I thought we played really well in the first half,” Atletico coach Diego Simeone said. “There was a high rhythm and high pace to the game. The team was connecting well between the different lines. What we were lacking was finishing and putting in a goal. The second half, not so much. The intent is always there.
“Right now, we’re still forming the team. The squad is not close and the transfer window is still open so it’s kind of hard to say where we’re at at this point. Right now, we’re just calm and working hard. Once we do form the team we’ll have a better idea of how we’ll play.”
The match was notable as the last sports event scheduled at Candlestick Park, the stadium that was the home of baseball’s San Francisco Giants from 1960 until 2000 and has been the home of the NFL’s 49ers since 1971.
The 49ers are moving to their new Levi’s Stadium in nearby Santa Clara in the upcoming season.
Liverpool will face Manchester City on July 30 in Yankee Stadium and AC Milan on August 2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Olympiakos finish Group B pool play August 2 against Manchester City in Minneapolis.
Group A features Manchester United, Roma, Real Madrid and Inter Milan.
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The Land between Two Rivers: Writing in an Age of Refugees
Tom Sleigh, Graywolf Press
RACECARD
6pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 – Group 1 (PA) $50,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
6.35pm: Festival City Stakes – Conditions (TB) $60,000 (D) 1,200m
7.10pm: Dubai Racing Club Classic – Listed (TB) $100,000 (Turf) 2,410m
7.45pm: Jumeirah Classic Trial – Conditions (TB) $150,000 (T) 1,400m
8.20pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 – Group 2 (TB) $250,000 (D) 1,600m
8.55pm: Cape Verdi – Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,600m
9.30pm: Dubai Dash – Listed (TB) $100,000 (T) 1,000m
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Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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
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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Dubai World Cup factbox
Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)
Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
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
