MADRID // Barcelona and Real Madrid remain locked together on 81 points at the top of the Primera Liga after seeing off Espanyol and Valencia respectively on Saturday.
Madrid maintain the edge as they have a game in hand but needed a winner four minutes from time from Marcelo to see off Valencia 2-1.
Luis Suarez scored twice as Barcelona gratefully pounced on a series of Espanyol errors to win the Catalan derby 3-0 and move top of the table thanks to their better head-to-head record over Real.
“The only thing we can do is win our games and keep putting a little pressure on,” Suarez told Spanish TV station Movistar.
“They have a difficult and tiring schedule and we’ll see what happens come the end of the season.”
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Jose Manuel Jurado was the Espanyol villain as he dragged well wide with easily the clearest chance of the first half.
The former Watford midfielder’s misplaced pass then teed up Suarez to end a five-game goal drought with a neat finish five minutes into the second period.
Lionel Messi did not add to his 49 goals this season but still played a vital role as he teed up Ivan Rakitic for Barca’s second 14 minutes from time.
And Suarez benefited from another defensive howler, this time from Aaron Martin, to slot home his second three minutes from the end.
At the Bernabeu, Marcelo’s late intervention saved Cristiano Ronaldo’s blushes despite the Portuguese setting another goalscoring record as he failed to beat Valencia goalkeeper Diego Alves from the penalty spot for the third time in four attempts.
Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane recalled eight of the side that started last weekend’s 3-2 Clasico defeat to Barcelona and had been rested for a 6-2 thrashing of Deportivo La Coruna in midweek.
However, the habitual first team nearly got off to the worst possible start when Santi Mina hit the post inside the first minute.
But Ronaldo eased Madrid nerves as he planted Dani Carvajal’s cross into the far corner in characteristic fashion on 27 minutes.
That goal took Ronaldo’s tally in league football to 367 goals to surpass legendary English striker Jimmy Greaves across Europe’s top divisions.
However, even the four-time Fifa World Player of the Year struggles to beat Alves from the spot as the Brazilian made his sixth penalty save of the season when he dived low to his left to deny Ronaldo early in the second half.
That miss looked costly when Dani Parejo’s brilliant free kick set up a grandstand finish eight minute from time.
Yet, for the seventh time in La Liga this season, Madrid struck as Marcelo cut inside onto his weaker right foot to fire across and past the helpless Alves to joyous scenes of relief at the Bernabeu.
“It is true that we were in a comfort zone for 30 minutes, the fans were the same,” Zidane said.
“After Valencia scored they started to push the players on once more and it was a completely different match.
“We know we are going to have to suffer until the end of the season.”
Next up for Real is a Uefa Champions League semi-final first leg on Tuesday at home to a Atletico Madrid side full of confidence after they thumped Las Palmas 5-0 to move three points clear of Sevilla in third.
Atletico struck three times in the first 18 minutes in the Canary Islands as Kevin Gameiro netted a double either side of Saul Niguez’s header.
Tony Adams’s Granada were relegated after they lost for the fourth straight game since the Englishman took charge, going down 2-1 at Real Sociedad.
Meanwhile, Levante sealed promotion back to La Liga with a 1-0 win over Real Oviedo.
* Agence France-Presse
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Athlete and fitness trainer
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Favourite exercise: Bench press
Must-eat weekly meal: Steak with beans, carrots, broccoli, crust and corn
Power drink: A glass of yoghurt
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Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
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Location: Southport, Merseyside, England
Established: 1889
Type: Private
Total holes: 18
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GP3 qualifying, 10:15am
Formula 2, practice 11:30am
Formula 1, first practice, 1pm
GP3 qualifying session, 3.10pm
Formula 1 second practice, 5pm
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“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
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European arms
Known EU weapons transfers to Ukraine since the war began: Germany 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles. Luxembourg 100 NLAW anti-tank weapons, jeeps and 15 military tents as well as air transport capacity. Belgium 2,000 machine guns, 3,800 tons of fuel. Netherlands 200 Stinger missiles. Poland 100 mortars, 8 drones, Javelin anti-tank weapons, Grot assault rifles, munitions. Slovakia 12,000 pieces of artillery ammunition, 10 million litres of fuel, 2.4 million litres of aviation fuel and 2 Bozena de-mining systems. Estonia Javelin anti-tank weapons. Latvia Stinger surface to air missiles. Czech Republic machine guns, assault rifles, other light weapons and ammunition worth $8.57 million.
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KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Healthcare spending to double to $2.2 trillion rupees
Launched a 641billion-rupee federal health scheme
Allotted 200 billion rupees for the recapitalisation of state-run banks
Around 1.75 trillion rupees allotted for privatisation and stake sales in state-owned assets
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6.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,400m
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Health Valley
Founded in 2002 and set up as a foundation in 2006, Health Valley has been an innovation in healthcare for more than 10 years in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
It serves as a place where companies, businesses, universities, healthcare providers and government agencies can collaborate, offering a platform where they can connect and work together on healthcare innovation.
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Its agency consists of eight people, four innovation managers and office managers, two communication advisers and one director. It gives innovation support to businesses and other parties in its network like a broker, connecting people with the right organisation to help them further
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OIL PLEDGE
At the start of Russia's invasion, IEA member countries held 1.5 billion barrels in public reserves and about 575 million barrels under obligations with industry, according to the agency's website. The two collective actions of the IEA this year of 62.7 million barrels, which was agreed on March 1, and this week's 120 million barrels amount to 9 per cent of total emergency reserves, it added.
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Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
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Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
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