Zlatan Ibrahimovic suffered a muscle tear in Paris Saint-Germain's last Ligue 1 match. Above, he reacts to an injury in April against Chelsea in the Champions League. Yoan Valat / EPA / April 2, 2014
Zlatan Ibrahimovic suffered a muscle tear in Paris Saint-Germain's last Ligue 1 match. Above, he reacts to an injury in April against Chelsea in the Champions League. Yoan Valat / EPA / April 2, 2014

With Ibrahimovic, Silva and more hurt PSG temporarily vulnerable in Ligue 1



Injuries to several key players mean that Paris Saint-Germain’s trip to struggling Evian in Ligue 1 on Friday may prove a stiffer test than the reigning champions bargained for.

With captain Thiago Silva already out for several weeks with a hamstring injury, PSG saw Zlatan Ibrahimovic go off with a slight muscle tear in his side early in last week’s 2-0 home win against SC Bastia.

A first Ligue 1 win of the campaign for Laurent Blanc’s side was also overshadowed by a fractured vertebra suffered by Gregory Van der Wiel, while midfielder Thiago Motta’s nose was fractured following an ugly clash with Bastia’s Brazilian striker Brandao in the tunnel after the game.

There is plenty of depth to the capital club’s squad, with Serge Aurier, Yohan Cabaye, Blaise Matuidi and Ezequiel Lavezzi all starting on the bench last weekend, but the loss of Silva and Ibrahimovic in particular is an undoubted blow ahead of the game in Annecy.

When Paris faced Evian away last season, nobody expected their run of 26 Ligue 1 matches without defeat to come to an end, yet they were beaten 2-0.

In April 2013, Evian also knocked their illustrious opponents out of the Cuope de France (French Cup) quarter-finals on penalties, but it would still be a major surprise if they slipped up this time.

“We are a step ahead compared to this time last year,” says Blanc, whose team started last season slowly before running away with the title.

“Our physical preparation has not changed. It is just that we have been together a year longer. In terms of our play, there is no comparison.”

“Last year we lost 2-0 there but the conditions were complicated because the pitch was frozen,” pointed out left-back Lucas Digne. “In any case we are expecting another difficult match.”

That is despite the fact that Evian lie rooted to the foot of the table already. Many observers’ pre-season favourites to go down, Evian have conceded nine goals in losing their opening two matches, including a 6-2 hammering at Rennes last weekend.

“There were good signs in pre-season, but unfortunately after 180 minutes in Ligue 1 we have let in nine goals,” said Evian coach Pascal Dupraz, before adding: “It is never good to play PSG, but we didn’t steal our victory when we beat them last season.”

Under normal circumstances, the pressure would be on Dupraz, but he is so powerful within the club, also holding the role of general manager, that the chances of him being ousted from the dugout seem slim.

In contrast, the pressure is on two of Ligue 1’s newest faces already, with Marseille coach Marcelo Bielsa in need of a first win when his side face Guingamp in Brittany.

More seasoned observers of French football believe that Argentine Bielsa and Monaco’s new Portuguese coach Leonardo Jardim, with their out of the ordinary tactical choices and training regimes, may have underestimated Ligue 1.

Monaco have lost their first two games under Jardim, including a 4-1 thumping at Bordeaux, and need to halt the slide when they go to Nantes.

The principality club’s Russian vice-president Vadim Vasilyev said: “We are not satisfied. We have started badly. But I am not worried, because we have changed a lot of things in terms of methodology and the team. We need time for everything to gel.”

In contrast, Bordeaux have enjoyed a perfect start under new boss Willy Sagnol. They travel south to face Nice, while Saint-Etienne, having also had a perfect start, host Rennes on Sunday after a hazardous trip to Turkey to play Karabukspor in the Europa League on Thursday.

Lyon are also in Europa League action on Thursday, against Romania’s Astra Giurgiu, before hosting Lens, while Lille play Lorient in between the two legs of their Champions League play-off with Porto.

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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs

Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel

Power: 579hp

Torque: 859Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh825,900

On sale: Now

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill

Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.

The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre turbo

Power: 181hp

Torque: 230Nm

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

Starting price: Dh79,000

On sale: Now

MATCH INFO

Burnley 0

Man City 3

Raheem Sterling 35', 49'

Ferran Torres 65'

 

 

THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick

Hometown: Cologne, Germany

Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)

Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes

Favourite hobby: Football

Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk

Employment lawyer Meriel Schindler of Withers Worldwide shares her tips on achieving equal pay
 
Do your homework
Make sure that you are being offered a fair salary. There is lots of industry data available, and you can always talk to people who have come out of the organisation. Where I see people coming a cropper is where they haven’t done their homework.
 
Don’t be afraid to negotiate

It’s quite standard to negotiate if you think an offer is on the low side. The job is unlikely to be withdrawn if you ask for money, and if that did happen I’d question whether you want to work for an employer who is so hypersensitive.
 
Know your worth
Women tend to be a bit more reticent to talk about their achievements. In my experience they need to have more confidence in their own abilities – men will big up what they’ve done to get a pay rise, and to compete women need to turn up the volume.
 
Work together
If you suspect men in your organisation are being paid more, look your boss in the eye and say, “I want you to assure me that I’m paid equivalent to my peers”. If you’re not getting a straight answer, talk to your peer group and consider taking direct action to fix inequality.

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners

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 Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement
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What is double taxation?
  • Americans living abroad file taxes with the Internal Revenue Service, which can cost hundreds of dollars to complete even though about 60 per cent do not owe taxes, according to the Taxpayer Advocate Service
  • Those obligations apply to millions of Americans residing overseas – estimates range from 3.9 million to 5.5 million – including so-called "accidental Americans" who are unaware they hold dual citizenship
  • The double taxation policy has been a contentious issue for decades, with many overseas Americans feeling that it punishes them for pursuing opportunities abroad
  • Unlike most countries, the US follows a citizenship-based taxation system, meaning that Americans must file taxes annually, even if they do not earn any income in the US.