When Felix Magath, the former Bayern Munich coach and three times league champion, predicted a few days ago that Bayern would not lose a match during the 51st Bundesliga campaign, relative silence followed.
His may not be the absolute consensus view, but given the resources at their disposal, and the buoyant momentum from Bayern's unprecedented recent success, not many experts have loudly countered the idea that they shape up as potential Invincibles.
Bayern, European club champions, record-setters last season for the speed at which they advanced to the domestic crown, begin their campaign tonight against Borussia Monchengladbach as the figureheads of a league that has seldom felt so good about itself.
And there lies the curiosity. If, as Magath and others suggest, Bayern are so far ahead of the rest domestically, should the Bundesliga not be alarmed at such a perceived imbalance?
Much of the amplified Bundesboasting resounding through elite club football all year has been justified.
The second-best team in Europe's principal competition were Borussia Dortmund, silver medallists in the Uefa Champions League only by a margin of a single goal, having lost 2-1 in the Wembley Stadium final to Bayern.
The third-best on the continent? Well, bronze medals, had they been cast, would have been smelted out of low-grade metal. Bayern were seven goals better than Barcelona in their semi-final, while Dortmund were 4-1 ahead of Real Madrid after the first leg of theirs.
Indeed, there is now an argument that for collective strength and expertise, Bayern's second XI might not be far off consideration as the third-best side in Europe.
Pep Guardiola, whose coaching services were sought by several teams, might not have his entire arsenal when the team opens against Monchengladbach. The line-up might very well exclude names such as Mario Gotze, the €37 million (Dh181.5m) recruit from Dortmund; Mario Madzukic, the striker who led the line in last season's treble; or Luiz Gustavo, who anchored Brazil's midfield in their successful Confederations Cup tournament last month.
Same for the German internationals Toni Kroos, Jerome Boateng and Holger Badstuber, plus the Swiss creator Xherdan Shaqiri, for whom Bayern paid Basel nearly €12m shortly after his 20th birthday 18 months ago.
Gustavo, for one, is voicing his apprehension about the personal implications of such intense competition for places.
In a World Cup year, he wants to keep his Brazil place and is in talks with Bayern executives about whether he might not be more active, week in, week out, if he moved elsewhere.
Most of the 18 German clubs outside Munich and Dortmund would value a player like him.
They have all looked at Bayern as if through the wrong end of a telescope for most of the last 12 months.
Dortmund's second place in the table was 25 points behind first after the 34 fixtures, while third-place Leverkusen trailed the champions by 26.
On the table, things remained interesting well below that trio, and Nuremburg could still have been relegated or finished fourth with only three games left.
But when one soaring superpower turns all the rest into mere scufflers, it does not take long before fans start worrying that the body has become as distant from the head as in the Barcelona-and-Real-Madrid-dominated Spanish Primera Liga.
Guardiola left Barcelona, after three Primera Liga triumphs and two European Cups in four years, partly because the job there became so stressful, politically and psychologically.
That was his first post as a senior first-team coach.
His second confronts him with, patently, a hard act to follow and with players who are bound to scrutinise his endeavours to correct or perfect existing methods.
"Last season everything worked very well," Boateng said, "but with a new coach there will be new ideas."
Among those, as Boateng will have noticed, is an apparent inclination to use Javi Martinez, the Spanish enforcer, more often in central defence than midfield - he is adept at both - which may affect Boateng.
There seems certain to be some adjustment to midfield now that Thiago Alacantara has arrived from Barcelona, very plainly a choice of Guardiola's.
In turn, Gotze, who has had minor fitness problems leading into the season, would seem to put pressure on the range of roles occupied by Arjen Robben, Thomas Muller, Franck Ribery, Kroos and Shaqiri.
The solutions to these conundrums, and Guardiola's man-management while he wrestles with them, dominate the agenda. But the league will not only be about the battles between Bayern A and Bayern B.
Dortmund have contributed interestingly to the refreshed cast-list of the Bundesliga, too, with the acquisitions of midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Shaktar Donetsk and striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Saint-Etienne, a footballer capable of setting the best sprint times in the league.
And Dortmund still have as coach the charismatic Jurgen Klopp, who drew some satisfaction from Dortmund's 4-2 win over Bayern in the German Super Cup two weeks ago.
He does not believe Bayern will win all their domestic matches from now on.
sports@thenational.ae
Start times
5.55am: Wheelchair Marathon Elites
6am: Marathon Elites
7am: Marathon Masses
9am: 10Km Road Race
11am: 4Km Fun Run
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
SPECS
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Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Company profile
Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
RESULT
Deportivo La Coruna 2 Barcelona 4
Deportivo: Perez (39'), Colak (63')
Barcelona: Coutinho (6'), Messi (37', 81', 84')
Company%20Profile
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MEDIEVIL%20(1998)
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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.”
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
The specs: 2018 BMW X2 and X3
Price, as tested: Dh255,150 (X2); Dh383,250 (X3)
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged inline four-cylinder (X2); 3.0-litre twin-turbo inline six-cylinder (X3)
Power 192hp @ 5,000rpm (X2); 355hp @ 5,500rpm (X3)
Torque: 280Nm @ 1,350rpm (X2); 500Nm @ 1,520rpm (X3)
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic (X2); Eight-speed automatic (X3)
Fuel consumption, combined: 5.7L / 100km (X2); 8.3L / 100km (X3)
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SHALASH%20THE%20IRAQI
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
Copa del Rey
Barcelona v Real Madrid
Semi-final, first leg
Wednesday (midnight UAE)
THE BIO
BIO:
Born in RAK on December 9, 1983
Lives in Abu Dhabi with her family
She graduated from Emirates University in 2007 with a BA in architectural engineering
Her motto in life is her grandmother’s saying “That who created you will not have you get lost”
Her ambition is to spread UAE’s culture of love and acceptance through serving coffee, the country’s traditional coffee in particular.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Adele: The Stories Behind The Songs
Caroline Sullivan
Carlton Books
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
