Sports

In the press conference ahead of the first leg of the Champions League last 16 tie, Gerard Piqué has declared that he expects a “similar game” to the one last season. He also added that despite the defeat against Málaga in the Spanish League at the weekend, the Catalan team are in good form as well as highlighting Manchester City’s strengths. Piqué on the Champions League tie: “I think it will be a similar game to last season. We are two sides who like to attack and have the ball. There was a key moment in the first leg with Demichelis' sending off and the goal from the penalty spot, without that it would have been closer.”

Former two time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso had to be kept in hospital last Sunday night after he was involved in a serious accident at the Circuit de Catalunya, in Greater Barcelona. The Spaniard suffered head injuries and concussion and had to be airlifted from the circuit to hospital via helicopter. Alonso was given the all clear after undergoing a series of scans and tests but was kept in hospital overnight for observation because of the nature of his injuries. The Spaniard was completing the 21st lap of the day for his new McLaren team when the accident happened at turn four on the fourth and final day of the test. According to his team, Alonso was “conscious” upon his arrival at the circuit’s medical centre and able to talk to doctors before being airlifted to hospital.

All it took was one small mistake. A seemingly innocent back-pass from Dani Alves to Claudio Bravo in minute seven ran out of steam and was intercepted by a charging Juanmi, who beat Bravo to the ball and waltzed in all alone for the game’s only goal, stopping Barça’s 11-game winning streak dead in its tracks. The loss means that Barça, playing in front of a raucous home crowd, have missed an opportunity to become the overnight leaders in La Liga and will be a minimum of one point behind leaders Real Madrid come Monday morning.

Barça stay just one point adrift of top spot in La Liga after beating Levante to the tune of five goals to no reply in Sunday’s game before 74,963 spectators at the Camp Nou. FC Barcelona make it eleven wins in a row with goals from Neymar, Suárez and a Messi hat trick.Luis Enrique made eight changes to the team that started midweek against Villarreal, with Suárez, Jordi Alba and Piqué among those on the bench. The manager had said in his pre-match press conference that this would not be as simple a game as some suspected, and for much of the first half that did indeed prove to be the case.

Catalan motor cycle rider Marc Márquez has received the 2014 Sportsman of the Year award by the Barcelona sports daily ‘Mundo Deportivo’. The youngest rider to win the MotoGP World Championship defended his title last year, winning his second Championship thanks to a record-breaking 13 victories. In the female category, Sportswoman of the Year went to Catalan swimmer Mireia Belmonte, who won four gold medals at the Short Pool World Championship as well as breaking the world record in two different categories. This is the third consecutive year that the Catalan swimmer has been awarded with this prize. The prizes have been given at the 67th edition of the 'Mundo Deportivo' Gala. Apart from rewarding the top sportspeople of the year, the Gala also recognizes the work of some sports organizations as well as people related to sport in the social field.

A FC Barcelona delegation led by President Josep Maria Bartomeu was in the Vatican City on Thursday to sign an agreement between the Catalan club’s Foundation and the Scholas Occurrentes charity - network of schools being promoted by the pontiff – to set up joint educational actions to promote values. Barça is the first sports club in the world to make such a deal. FC Barcelona was also represented by vice-president Jordi Cardoner, the vice-presidents of the Foundation, Ramon Pont and Ramon Cierco and director Pau Vilanova.

In what was billed as a major test for two teams that rode into Camp Nou on a wave of impressive results, it was FC Barcelona who had more answers as they came back twice from a goal down to subdue Villarreal and extend their winning streak to eight games in all competitions, their fourth straight in La Liga. As the half hour mark arrived, Villarreal scored its first goal, but Neymar drew just before the break.In the 51st minute, Villarreal went back on top after Piqué misjudged a ball near midfield. However Barça’s reaction was almost immeditate; Rafinha got one goal and two minutes after Messi put the Catalans on top. For Barça, the win showcased their tremendous resilience, a powerful trait to have as they march toward a decisive stretch of the season.

A Neymar brace and a Miranda own goal beat an Atlético side that finish with nine men. Never was the old adage of a ‘game of two halves’ more appropriate than it was tonight. A non-stop first half produced five goals, with Barça going behind twice but eventually leading 3-2 at the break. After Atlético were reduced to ten men at half-time, all the fire went out of the game, with Barça’s qualification for the last four of the cup never really looking in doubt.It all started like one of the classic Atlético v Barça games of the nineties. It was relentless end-to-end action from start to finish. The opening goal took just thirty seconds to come. Barça will find out who their opponents will be on Thursday night when Villarreal defend their 1-0 lead from the first leg against Getafe.

FC Barcelona will go on a tour of the United States of America and Mexico in the summer four years after their last pre-season tour of the continent. Despite dates not yet being confirmed, the Catalan club has made official the news that the blaugranes will be returning to American soil for the fifth time in the last twelve years (2003, 2006, 2009 and 2011).In 2012 the team took part in various pre-season games across Europe and in 2013 they toured the Asian continent. In 2014 with Luis Enrique installed as coach, the squad enjoyed a pre-season training camp in Birmingham in the United Kingdom before playing in three friendly matches in Nice in France, Geneva in Switzerland and Helsinki in Finland.

Elche fans are no doubt grateful that their team won’t have to play Barça again this season, or indeed this month, as Luis Enrique’s side ran riot at the Manuel Martínez Valero Stadium to chalk up six goals - that’s 15 in the three January games against Fran Escribá’s team. Gerard Piqué opened the scoring in the first half, with Messi and Neymar getting a brace each after the break before Pedro made it a round half dozen in injury time. Next stop, Atlético Madrid on Wednesday night (9.00am CET).

The Argentinean’s 83rd minute goal finally got the better of Atlético’s rock solid defence. Ten days before this Spanish Cup quarter final first leg, Barça danced around Atlético to win 3-1 in La Liga. But Wednesday night’s fixture was more reminiscent of the six meetings between the sides last season. For 83 minutes, the two teams were locked in an intense battle, with their defences shining more than their frontmen. But then the deadlock was finally broken and Barça could go on to celebrate a second consecutive victory against the Liga champions.

Just 10 days after their last meeting at the Camp Nou, Barça and Atlético Madrid face each other once again on Wednesday night at 10.00pm (CET) in the first leg of the Spanish Cup quarter-finals. Lifted by their performance in the 3-1 win last time out, Luis Enrique’s team have hit a good patch of form as they go into the match. However, the boss is well aware of the danger Atlético pose, warning at his pre-match press conference: “Atlético are a fearsome side over two legs … We are going to need a better attitude than them and to make the most of every footballing resource we have”. Xavi is coming back into the Barça squad after his injury lay off and Tiago and Ansaldi are the visitors’ only injury absentees.

Two Catalan drivers made history this weekend at the end of the Dakar Rally 2015. Motorbike rider Marc Coma won his fifth Dakar, equalling the five titles of French drivers Cyril Neveu and Cyril Despres. Coma has become the second driver with the most triumphs in the category, just one victory less than Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel. Rider Laia Sanz finished ninth, the best position for a woman of all time. In addition, Catalonia had a large representation in this edition, with racers in all four categories, especially in motorbikes. Of the 25 Catalan racers that started the Rally on the 4^th of January, almost half made it to Buenos Aires last Saturday, after covering 9,000 kilometres in Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. 

The Argentinean scored his second consecutive hat-trick at Deportivo’s Riazor stadium in a 4-0 win – Sidnei putting the ball in his own net for the fourth. Riazor was silenced by yet another stunning display from Leo Messi. Just like he did the last time he visited the Deportivo stadium, the Argentinean found the net three times as Barça collected three hugely important points to maintain the pressure on Spanish league leaders Real Madrid, who won at Getafe earlier in the day.

Josep Maria Bartomeu, President of FC Barcelona, held a press conference on Wednesday to announce early elections to be held at the end of the current season. Bartomeu also confirmed that he will run. “We believe that calling elections is the best option to lower the tension that is currently present at the club”, he stated. Last week’s confirmation of FIFA’s ban on FC Barcelona by the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) was the last ingredient in a storm that has raged for months. FIFA will prevent the Catalan club from signing any new player until Christmas 2015 as a sanction for signing underage players from foreign countries. Following the CAS’ definitive verdict, Barça’s Football Director, Andoni Zubizarreta, was fired earlier this week.