Diego Maradona, left, is comforted by his daughter Dalma, as he leaves the field after losing to Germany in a 2010 World Cup quarter-final match at Green Point stadium in Cape Town, South Africa, on July 3, 2010. Germany won 4-0. Christophe Simon / AFP
Diego Maradona, left, is comforted by his daughter Dalma, as he leaves the field after losing to Germany in a 2010 World Cup quarter-final match at Green Point stadium in Cape Town, South Africa, on JShow more

Diego Maradona less than impressed as his daughter is cast as Pele’s offspring in Argentina theatre production



DUBAI // Diego Maradona has a new enemy – and it is not the usual politician, football president or taxman. His name is Jose Maria Muscari, an Argentine author and theatre director.

Muscari’s latest work, entitled Familia de Mujeres (Family of Women), centres around a young woman who dreams every night that “a good striker will fall in love with me and take me to live in Dubai”.

Gold-digging girlfriends is not an overly controversial theme (think Footballers’ Wives), yet when the protagonist, Lana, is played by a legendary professional footballer’s daughter, interest and intrigue ramps up a notch.

Of Dalma Maradona, Diego’s 26-year-old offspring, Muscari, 37, told Brazil’s Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper “there is no one better than her for this role, a person who understands everything in the world of groupies”.

Midway through the show the plot takes a twist that – for the audience at least – has comedic intentions. Lana’s mother is explaining her daughter wants to be a footballer’s wife and reveals Lana’s father is a famous player. The understanding is, naturally, that the father is Maradona.

It is not.

“She is Pele’s daughter!” the mother explains. “We spent a night together and I got pregnant from him. Lana is the unacknowledged daughter of Pele!”

The audience laughed loudly at the revelation, wrote Folha's correspondent who attended the show in Cordoba. Yet "El Diego" appears to have failed to see the funny side.

“Dalma has very good sense of humour,” Muscari said. “When I told her the character would be Pele’s daughter, she laughed and accepted it right on the spot. [Diego] didn’t show up to watch it, but Dalma told me he didn’t like it and said that when he comes he will kill me.”

The show is running at Villa Carlos Paz until March 9, when Dalma Maradona is then expected to fly to Dubai where she will help produce The Victorious, a reality TV show that aims to unearth Arab football talent and in which Diego will be a judge.

The show will broadcast on Dubai TV and Dubai Sports from next month.

gmeenaghan@thenational.ae

MATCH INFO

Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')

Lazio 3 (Alberto 16', Lulic 73', Cataldi 90 4')

Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)

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Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.

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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.”

Juventus v Napoli, Sunday, 10.45pm (UAE)

Match on Bein Sports