Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho played down his side’s chances of winning the Uefa Champions League ahead of their final Group E match at home against Romanian club Steaua Bucharest.
Mourinho is bidding to win the competition for a third club, having taken Porto and Inter Milan all the way, but feels the Londoners who surprisingly won the title in 2011 under Roberto Di Matteo have only an outside shot at reaching the final in Lisbon.
“I think our chances this season, which is my first season [back], are not comparable with the chances of other clubs,” said Mourinho, whose side have already qualified for the last 16.
“Other clubs have stability in the squad, which we don’t have, and the evolution of the team to be considered favourites to win the competition.
“But we have reached the last 16, and if we reach the quarter-finals, I always used to say that every team in the quarter-finals has a chance to win it.
“My analysis of the situation is we are not favourites to win it. Bayern Munich are the favourites – they have unbelievable stability. Barcelona and Real Madrid, too, I will say, clearly in terms of potential, are clearly in front.”
Mourinho said that England left-back Ashley Cole will return to the starting line-up against Steaua after being left out in favour of Cesar Azpilicueta in recent weeks.
“When he is on the bench, I can feel his will to win, even if he is not on the pitch,” Mourinho said.
“He is a fantastic guy. Full respect from me and the players and he starts tomorrow.” The group’s other game sees Swiss side Basel travel to Germany to face Schalke, knowing a point would be enough to see them through to the knock-out rounds.
Group F: Dortmund have injuries and Napoli need some help
In a potentially complicated scenario, Borussia Dortmund need to beat Marseille to be sure of advancing from Group F.
A draw would be enough if Napoli fail to win at home against group leader Arsenal. Dortmund can even afford to lose, assuming Napoli do the same. Three teams could finish with 12 points – meaning that for the first time, a side with 12 points would be eliminated.
Dortmund gain more injury problems with nearly every match. Their 1-0 Bundesliga loss to Bayer Leverkusen was made worse by the injuries to Sven Bender and Nuri Sahin, both of whom sustained right-ankle injuries. Bender has been ruled out of the match in Marseille and Sahin is highly doubtful.
“We want to spend the winter in the Champions League and that’s how we’ll approach the match. We are not going to lament,” Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp said.
Neven Subotic, Mats Hummels, Marcel Schmelzer, Ilkay Gundogan and Bender will not play and defender Manuel Friedrich is ineligible.
Napoli need some help from Marseille to advance. The Italian club can take matters into its own hands if it beats Arsenal by three goals, but that seems unlikely. Otherwise, Napoli need to beat Arsenal by a smaller margin and hope Marseille hold Dortmund to at least a draw, or draw with Arsenal and hope Marseille wins.
“We have the advantage of playing at home and we need to perform at our maximum,” Napoli’s Christian Maggio said. “Of course we’ll wait to see how it goes in Marseille, but first of all, we’ve got to worry about ourselves.”
Making matters more difficult for Napoli is that captain Marek Hamsik is out with a bruised foot.
No French club has ever finished the group stage of the Champions League with zero points. Marseille would become the first to achieve that unenviable feat if it loses to Dortmund.
Group G: Zenit have slight edge over Porto
Zenit St Petersburg and Porto remain in competition for the one remaining Uefa Champions League spot in Group G.
Porto, two-time European champions, has the tougher task with a visit to group winner Atletico Madrid. Zenit travel to winless Austria Vienna, who finished last in the group. Zenit can qualify for the knock out rounds by at least matching Porto’s result.
Porto must beat Atletico and hope Zenit lose in Vienna to advance. If the teams finish level on points, the Russians advance with a better head-to-head record.
Porto’s hopes of salvaging their campaign received a lift with the inclusion of Lucho Gonzalez in the squad travelling to Madrid. Porto will hope already-qualified Atletico rest some players.
They top of the Spanish standings with Barcelona, having won all nine of their league and Champions League matches at the Vicente Calderon Stadium this season.
sports@thenational.ae
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.
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.”
Pari
Produced by: Clean Slate Films (Anushka Sharma, Karnesh Sharma) & KriArj Entertainment
Director: Prosit Roy
Starring: Anushka Sharma, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Ritabhari Chakraborty, Rajat Kapoor, Mansi Multani
Three stars
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Director: Jon Watts
Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon
Rating:*****
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EQureos%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EUAE%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ELaunch%20year%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E33%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESoftware%20and%20technology%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%243%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Summer special
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
