Vincent Enyeama has gone 1035 minutes since allowing a Ligue 1 goal. Pascal Rossignol / Reuters
Vincent Enyeama has gone 1035 minutes since allowing a Ligue 1 goal. Pascal Rossignol / Reuters

Sport

Nigeria’s Enyeama ‘just enjoying the moment’ as he keeps clean sheet for Lille win

The Nigerian keeper kept Marseille off the board as Lille secured a 1-0 victory on Tuesday night and solidified their hold on second in the Ligue 1 table.

Agence France Presse

December 04, 2013

A goal two minutes into time added on by Nolan Roux gave Lille a priceless 1-0 win over Marseille in their Ligue 1 clash on Tuesday and consolidated their second spot in the table.

Roux’s sixth goal of the season was a bit harsh on a Marseille side that had several superb chances throughout the game but found Nigerian international goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama in imperious form.

Lille’s win moved them to wthin a point of leaders Paris Saint Germain, who play Evian on Wednesday, while Marseille are 10 points adrift of PSG and being threatened for fourth spot by Nantes, who grabbed a late winner in a 2-1 victory over struggling Valenciennes.

Monaco stayed third and moved to within two points of PSG when they beat ailing Nice 3-0 later on Tuesday with Emmanuel Riviere ending a scoring drought dating back nine games as he grabbed the second goal to help his side to their third successive win.

Enyeama moved past 1000 minutes in not conceding a goal – since the 2-0 defeat by Nice on September 15 – taking it to 1035 minutes.

The 31-year-old goalkeeper – who captained Nigeria to their Africa Cup of Nations triumph earlier this year – is second on the all-time top flight list behind Frenchman Gaetan Huard who in the 1992-1993 season didn’t concede a goal for Bordeaux for 1176 minutes.

“What can I say? I am just enjoying the moment,” Enyeama told Bein Sport.

“It’s not just me, though, it is the whole group. We stay strong like a team. We have the spirit and the strength.

“I don’t know what is possible now. All I can say is that I havre a great team round me and a great set of coaches.”

Going into the match there had been fears over how former Lille star Florian Thauvin would be received after a group of Lille supporters went to the airport and booed and hissed him when Marseille arrived for the match.

Thauvin – in form of late with five goals in the last 12 games and creating another three – produced not much of note in the first-half, save one wonderful mazy run deep into Lille territory and although he was dispossessed the ball fell to Mathieu Valbuena who found Andre-Pierre Gignac.

The former France striker shrugged off a defender and only had Enyeama to beat but the goalkeeper proved equal to the task blocking Gignac’s shot and when the rebound fell to Valbuena his shot drifted wide.

One double save in the second-half in particular stood out, Dimitri Payet’s fierce strike being batted away by Enyeama but straight to Gignac out wide right in the area, but his curling effort was tipped away by the goalkeeper.

Marseille’s frustrating evening deepened when the ever lively Valbuena went down heavily on his left shoulder and had to be taken off immediately, leaving the pitch and trudging down the tunnel holding his left arm gingerly.

The game seemed to be petering out into a deserved share of the points only for Roux to reward Enyeama’s superb display as he headed into the far corner.

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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