CARDIFF // Cristiano Ronaldo urged us to look at the numbers. "The numbers don't lie," he replied to a question about whether, at 32, he might be approaching the downhill piste of his career. With Ronaldo, the numbers always keep climbing.
He struck the 599th and 600th goals of his senior professional career, clubs and country combined, during Saturday night’s 4-1 win for Real Madrid over Juventus in the Uefa Champions League final. Ronaldo scored in his fourth Champions League final – including last year’s converted penalty in a shoot-out – and collected his fourth European Cup trophy.
His Madrid set a landmark, too, as the first club to retain European club football’s most prestigious prize in the era it has been called the Champions League. Nobody had held and kept the so-called “Big Cup” for more than 12 months since AC Milan defended it in 1990.
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Read more
■ Reaction: Juventus captain Gigi Buffon says Real Madrid 'showed their class'
■ In pictures: Real Madrid beat Juventus to defend Uefa Champions League title
■ Gareth Bale: Winning Uefa Champions League in Cardiff a 'dream come true'
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For much of the second half in Cardiff, Madrid electrified a vast global audience, producing what Ronaldo called perhaps “the best half of football we have played in an amazing season”.
More numbers – not just CR7’s – resonate within the most decorated football institution in Spain. “We have done a double,” Ronaldo reminded. Not since 1959, rather remarkably, have a Real Madrid with over 30 Spanish Liga crowns and now 12 European Cups combined both trophies in the same year.
When a club from a highly competitive domestic league pulls off a double, you look at the sources of their stamina as well as their spirit and what manager Zinedine Zidane called “the spectacular”.
Madrid, more impressive than they had been in beating Atletico Madrid in the 2014 and 2016 finals, were playing their 60th match of the season in Cardiff. Their league chase, a sapping joust with Barcelona, went to the final game of the Primera Liga. They faced tough battles in three out of four of their matches – against Bayern Munich and Atletico – in the quarter- and semi-finals of the Champions League.
Yet in Cardiff, the energy and verve of Zidane’s Madrid grew as Juventus, who might have stolen back the momentum with Mario Mandzukic’s athletic, brilliant equaliser, faded.
“Madrid pressed down on the accelerator,” said Max Allegri, Juventus’s manager. Zidane’s players, who have been carefully rotated and strategically rested at points during their marathon campaign, had plenty in the tank. Encouragingly for Zidane the legacy-builder, two of the younger members of the squad, Casemiro, and the substitute Marco Asensio, scored the goals Ronaldo did not.
“This is the best Madrid squad I have seen,” said a watching Raul, part of the Madrid sides who won the club’s seventh, eighth and ninth European Cups between 1998 and 2002 and a long-serving former captain who has seen several of his club goalscoring records overtaken by Ronaldo. Raul had teammates such as Zidane, Luis Figo, Brazil’s Ronaldo as well as Portugal’s Ronaldo, during his career but often played in XIs without the balance, or the back-up, that Zidane’s Madrid have cultivated.
In a fine, tricky act of management, Zidane last August persuaded Ronaldo that some pause in his insatiable appetite for ever higher numbers – more goals, more games – might benefit the player and the club. So Ronaldo has played fewer minutes in recent months than he is used to doing. “I was very well prepared for this final,” said the Portuguese after collecting the man-of-the-match award in Cardiff from Alex Ferguson, once his manager and mentor at Manchester United. “I feel like a young boy.”
Asensio, 21 is barely more than a young boy, and, slick and elegant, already the face of Madrid’s optimism for the long-term. Casemiro, 25, has the look of a leader-in-waiting and, if he can avoid the kind of snide edge that captain Sergio Ramos again showed in the theatrics that helped get Juan Cuadrado, the Juventus substitute, sent off late in the final, he may turn out a more admired one than Ramos is.
“It has been an amazing season,” Ronaldo said. “But I keep saying that every season.”
He may say it again, too. Madrid should start 2017/18 as favourites to retain their Liga title in a Spain where Atletico are hamstrung by a Fifa transfer ban, and Barcelona are bedding in a new manager, Ernesto Valverde, amid a renewed bout of soul-searching about style, identity and the fact that Real Madrid are striding ahead of them.
In Europe, the champions of Italy have just been thoroughly beaten. The champions of Germany were dispatched in the quarter-finals. Madrid will monitor the substantial investments their rival clubs make in new players this summer, but they will not fret over that. Zidane, and Ronaldo, will, rather, feel excited by the idea of not two, but three back-to-back Champions League titles.
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
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Price: On request
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
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.”
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
Dubai Women's Tour teams
Agolico BMC
Andy Schleck Cycles-Immo Losch
Aromitalia Basso Bikes Vaiano
Cogeas Mettler Look
Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport
Hitec Products – Birk Sport
Kazakhstan National Team
Kuwait Cycling Team
Macogep Tornatech Girondins de Bordeaux
Minsk Cycling Club
Pannonia Regional Team (Fehérvár)
Team Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Team Ciclotel
UAE Women’s Team
Under 23 Kazakhstan Team
Wheel Divas Cycling Team
SPEC SHEET
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Main camera: quad 12MP ultra-wide f/2.2, 108MP wide f/1.8, 10MP telephoto f/4.9, 10MP telephoto 2.4; Space Zoom up to 100x, auto HDR, expert RAW
Video: 8K@24fps, 4K@60fps, full-HD@60fps, HD@30fps, super slo-mo@960fps
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Colours: burgundy, green, phantom black, phantom white, graphite, sky blue, red
Price: Dh4,699 for 128GB, Dh5,099 for 256GB, Dh5,499 for 512GB; 1TB unavailable in the UAE
Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
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Timeline
1947
Ferrari’s road-car company is formed and its first badged car, the 125 S, rolls off the assembly line
1962
250 GTO is unveiled
1969
Fiat becomes a Ferrari shareholder, acquiring 50 per cent of the company
1972
The Fiorano circuit, Ferrari’s racetrack for development and testing, opens
1976
First automatic Ferrari, the 400 Automatic, is made
1987
F40 launched
1988
Enzo Ferrari dies; Fiat expands its stake in the company to 90 per cent
2002
The Enzo model is announced
2010
Ferrari World opens in Abu Dhabi
2011
First four-wheel drive Ferrari, the FF, is unveiled
2013
LaFerrari, the first Ferrari hybrid, arrives
2014
Fiat Chrysler announces the split of Ferrari from the parent company
2015
Ferrari launches on Wall Street
2017
812 Superfast unveiled; Ferrari celebrates its 70th anniversary
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The bio
Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions
School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira
Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
Dream City: San Francisco
Hometown: Dubai
City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala
Five expert hiking tips
Always check the weather forecast before setting off
Make sure you have plenty of water
Set off early to avoid sudden weather changes in the afternoon
Wear appropriate clothing and footwear
Take your litter home with you
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
