Omar Marmoush opened his account for Manchester City with a first-half hat-trick to beat Newcastle 4-0 and fire Pep Guardiola's side back into the Premier League's top four on Saturday.
The Egyptian was in sizzling form as City recovered from their late Champions League collapse where they lost to Real Madrid 3-2 at home in midweek.
The English champions, however, have a mountain to climb when they visit Madrid on Wednesday if they are to reach the last 16 of Europe's elite competition for the 12th consecutive season.
Marmoush's performance, though, gives some cause for optimism as Newcastle were blown away inside the opening 33 minutes.
City's new signing Marmoush made an emphatic statement in his first start since arriving at the club last month. He had scored 20 goals for Eintracht Frankfurt this season before making a £59 million move to Manchester.
James McAtee added a late strike for Guardiola's side who climbed to fourth place in the standings on 44 points, while Newcastle slipped to seventh on 41.
Marmoush, 26, gave the hosts the lead in the 19th minute when City goalkeeper Ederson launched a long pass that defender Kieran Trippier misjudged and the Egyptian lobbed the ball over the onrushing Martin Dubravka.
Marmoush doubled his tally five minutes later when he latched onto a pass from Ilkay Gundogan before firing in a low shot that took a slight deflection off Trippier.
The striker completed his hat-trick in the 33rd when Savinho found him with acres of space for a blistering shot from 12 yards out.
The match had been billed as a clash between the Premier League's two top strikers as Golden Boot rivals Erling Haaland and Alexander Isak went head-to-head.
However, they were both overshadowed as Marmoush announced his arrival to the English game.
City were keen to add more goalscoring threats to support Haaland and the early signs are promising that the Norwegian and Marmoush can dovetail effectively.
City's fragility at defending leads this season was never seriously tested as the visitors suffered another damaging defeat to their chances of a return to the Champions League next season.
But there was a worrying scene for City as Haaland had to be replaced in the closing stages after receiving treatment on a knee injury.
Meanwhile, Fulham put a dent in Nottingham Forest's Premier League top-four aspirations as defender Calvin Bassey's first goal of the season sealed a 2-1 home victory for the London club on Saturday.
Bassey's well-directed header in the 62nd minute left Forest empty-handed despite Chris Wood scoring his 18th league goal of the season for the visitors.
Emile Smith-Rowe headed in Adama Traore's cross to give Fulham an early lead at Craven Cottage but striker Wood levelled before halftime with a clinical finish.
Forest were unable to make much of an impression after Bassey's goal and a lively Fulham side could have added to their lead on several occasions.
While Forest remained in third place with 47 points from 25 games, Fulham are firmly in the hunt for European qualification, sitting in eighth spot with 39 points.
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
MWTC info
Tickets to the MWTC range from Dh100 and can be purchased from www.ticketmaster.ae or by calling 800 86 823 from within the UAE or 971 4 366 2289 from outside the country and all Virgin Megastores. Fans looking to attend all three days of the MWTC can avail of a special 20 percent discount on ticket prices.
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'Gehraiyaan'
Director:Shakun Batra
Stars:Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, Dhairya Karwa
Rating: 4/5
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.”
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Usain Bolt's time for the 100m at major championships
2008 Beijing Olympics 9.69 seconds
2009 Berlin World Championships 9.58
2011 Daegu World Championships Disqualified
2012 London Olympics 9.63
2013 Moscow World Championships 9.77
2015 Beijing World Championships 9.79
2016 Rio Olympics 9.81
2017 London World Championships 9.95
