Real Madrid and Bayern Munich renew their storied European rivalry in the Uefa Champions League on Wednesday night knowing only one of the football heavyweights will advance to the final.
Here are five things to know ahead of the opening match:
Ronaldo, Bale set
Cristiano Ronaldo is set to return against Bayern after the Madrid forward completed a full training session on Monday for the first time since hurting his left leg.
Ronaldo was nursing a sore knee before the muscle injury popped up and left the Portugal international, who is tied for the tournament record of 14 goals in one season, sidelined for four games.
Gareth Bale, meanwhile, missed Monday’s training due to flu but should be available.
Madrid, who enjoyed a full week off before the match, will also likely be able to count on left-back Marcelo returning from injury.
Bayern injuries
Manuel Neuer should be fit to line up in the Bayern goal after recovering from a calf injury. The Germany goalkeeper missed the German Cup semi-final win over Kaiserslautern and the 2-0 league win at Eintracht Braunschweig on Saturday, but returned to running exercises last Thursday.
“I feel quite good. I presume I’ll be able to play,” said Neuer, who trained over the weekend, as did injured defenders David Alaba and Diego Contento.
Improvement needed
After failing to impress in Saturday’s win at bottom side Eintracht Braunschweig, Bayern need to improve for arguably their toughest games of the season.
“We won’t reach the final if we don’t produce two outstanding performances,” said Bayern coach Pep Guardiola, whose side failed to win in three Bundesliga games after clinching the title.
“We’re a good team when we play at full throttle. We’re not at our best level at the moment and it’s clear we need to improve.”
Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said Bayern need “at least one goal. That was shown by the Dortmund against Real Madrid games.” Dortmund lost 3-0 in Madrid and were eliminated despite beating the Spanish side 2-0 at home.
Tough choices
Carlo Ancelotti’s line-up to face Bayern will be a tough choice, as midfielder Isco has been stellar in stepping in for the injured Ronaldo. But the Spain international looks set to be sacrificed with Ronaldo’s return and Angel Di Maria’s continued good form.
Ancelotti elected to keep Di Maria over Mesut Ozil last summer, selling the Germany playmaker to Arsenal.
‘The Black Beast’
Dubbed “la bestia negra” or “the black beast” by fearful Madrid fans, Bayern have come to represent a thorn in the side of record nine-time winners Madrid.
Bayern, five-time champions, won semi-finals in 1976, 1987, 2001 and 2012, with Madrid’s sole win coming in 2000.
Altogether, Bayern have 11 wins from 20 meetings, with Madrid’s seven wins all coming at home. Madrid are unbeaten at home in the Champions League for 17 games dating to 2011, when Guardiola guided Barcelona to a 2-0 victory.
Guardiola has never lost as a coach at the Bernabeu. Madrid do have a wild card in coach Ancelotti, who has never lost in six meetings against Bayern including four victories.
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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.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Which products are to be taxed?
To be taxed:
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
Products excluded from the ‘sweetened drink’ category would contain at least 75 per cent milk in a ready-to-drink form or as a milk substitute, baby formula, follow-up formula or baby food, beverages consumed for medicinal use and special dietary needs determined as per GCC Standardisation Organisation rules
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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.”
