Xavi insisted Barcelona's final Champions League group game is "important" and urged his players to take Viktoria Plzen seriously as the already-eliminated squad trained for Tuesday night's match in the Czech Republic.
Barcelona will finish third in Group C behind winners Bayern Munich and runners-up Inter Milan, ensuring a second successive group stage exit for the Catalans. Barca's only win of the group stage came in their opening game against Viktoria Plzen, beating the Czech side 5-1.
While there is nothing to play for, Barca manager Xavi wants his team to salvage some pride and finish their campaign on a high before they drop into the Europa League.
"Of course, there is no chance for the qualification but it's important," Xavi said. "It's important for our feeling, for our game model, to show ourselves we are in a good way. We want to finish this competition well, so it's an important game. This is not a friendly game, it's the Champions League, so it's important."
To prepare for the match, Barcelona players and staff conducted a final training session inside Viktoria Plzen's Doosan Arena on Monday evening. Among the players to take part in training were recent Golden Boy winner Gavi, Dutch midfielder Frenkie De Jong, and veteran defender Gerard Pique.
However, a notable absentee was star striker Robert Lewandowski, whom Barca confirmed would skip the trip to the Czech Republic as a precaution against "an issue with his back”.
Check out the best photos from the training session in the photo gallery above. To move on to the next photo, click on the arrows or swipe if using a mobile device.
FIXTURES
Fixtures for Round 15 (all times UAE)
Friday
Inter Milan v AS Roma (11.45pm)
Saturday
Atalanta v Verona (6pm)
Udinese v Napoli (9pm)
Lazio v Juventus (11.45pm)
Sunday
Lecce v Genoa (3.30pm)
Sassuolo v Cagliari (6pm)
SPAL v Brescia (6pm)
Torino v Fiorentina (6pm)
Sampdoria v Parma (9pm)
Bologna v AC Milan (11.45pm)
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
