Sports

More than 24,000 people welcomed Barça to Dura, in Palestine, where the Catalan team held the first clinic on the ‘Peace Tour’. Located close to Hebron, the Dura Stadium was packed to welcome FC Barcelona’s full first team and coaching staff, who everyone in this country is used to seeing on television. The players, who were received by a banner in Catalan, trained with a group of 40 Palestinian boys and girls.

Barça thrashed Santos by an incredible eight goals to nil in the 48^th edition of the Joan Gamper Trophy. The goals came from Messi, Léo (og), Alexis, Pedro, Cesc (2), Adriano and Dongou. It was the Camp Nou’s first chance to see FC Barcelona’s new manager, Tata Martino, and the star striker, Neymar Jr. The stadium also bade a final farewell to one of the biggest legend’s in club history, the great keeper Antoni Ramallets, who died on Tuesday.

FC Barcelona home fans will have the first chance to see the team this season, after friendlies in Munich, Oslo and Gdansk. Neymar, one of the big draws for the game, will be set to face his ex-club. In addition, Barça’s new coach Tata Martino will speak to the crowd before the game along with captain Carles Puyol. Puyol will be one of the four squad players who will miss the game through injury, alongside Afellay, Cuenca and Tello. Furthermore, Barça’s legendary keeper Antoni Ramallets, who passed away earlier this week, will also be honoured before the game.

Barça drew away to a defiant Lechia side with goals from Sergi Roberto and Messi, both times to cancel out earlier efforts from the home side. July 30, 2013 is a date Barça fans will remember for two reasons. The first is a sad one, for one of the greatest players ever to represent FC Barcelona, Antoni Ramallets, passed away. A minute’s silence was respected in his honour in Gdansk, and the players wore black armbands. However, it was also the day Neymar, FC Barcelona’s new Brazilian star, made his first appearance for the team, playing 15 minutes in the friendly in Gdansk.

Barça will take on Lechia Gdansk on Tuesday evening for the third match of the 2013/14 preseason. It should have been the first, but the match was postponed due to the news about Tito Vilanova’s departure from the team. Neymar could make his debut as a Blaugrana. Now, Barça are in Poland with a new manager, Tata Martino, who just started training the team this week.

Barça cruised to victory against Valerenga in the second game of the 2013/14 preseason. FC Barcelona’s seven goals were scored by Alexis, Tello, Messi, Dos Santos, Dongou (2) and Joan Román. The Catalan team’s new manager Tata Martino was watching from the stands in the Ullevaal Stadium. Barça got off to a storming start. After just thirteen minutes they had already found the Valerenga net three times. All three goals involved Leo Messi.

The new Barça Manager has signed his two-year contract this Friday morning and has hold his press conference as the Catalan team coach. Tata Martino feels maintaining the team’s hunger to win is the key to ensuring the success continues. “At Barça, the shirt alone is enough to motivate”, said the Argentinean when asked to describe his feelings about the challenges ahead. Tata also spoke about the players he is taking over. “If Messi and Neymar can’t work together, that’s because the coach has a problem, not the players” he said.

Barça 2013/14 started the preseason with defeat to Guardiola’s Bayern at the Allianz Arena. They couldn’t have had a more daunting task in their first game back from the break, and under the circumstances it was a fine performance from the Catalans. Lahm (min 13) and Mandzukic (min 86) scored against a side that had clearly had more time to prepare. There are plenty of conclusions to be drawn from a game packed with curiosities, including the reencounter with Pep Guardiola and Thiago and the first game in the shirt based on the colours of the Catalan flag.

FC Barcelona begin the 2013/14 preseason with a friendly against the reigning champions of Europe, Bayern Munich. Pep Guardiola and Thiago Alcántara, now on the bench and in the midfield of the German team, will face off against their ex-team. Barça is made up of 12 first team players and 11 Barça B players. After the match against Bayern, the Catalan team will travel to Oslo.

FC Barcelona has reached an agreement for the Argentinian to be manager for the next two seasons. The schedule for his trip to Barcelona, signature of his contract and official presentation will be announced in the next few hours. The man known as ‘Tata’ as extensive experience of South American football, first as a player and after as a coach, most recently on the bench at Newell's Old Boys, with whom he won the 2013 Final Tournament.

The President of FC Barcelona, Sandro Rosell, announced on Friday evening that the Catalan manager will not continue at Barça due to ongoing treatment of his illness. FC Barcelona will not travel to Poland on Saturday. During this evening’s press conference, president Rosell announced: “After evaluating the results from the routine check-ups, which Tito Vilanova underwent this week, he was presented with the option to continue treatment to control his illness which will make it impossible to continue his responsibilities as the first team manager of the senior side.” On 22 November of 2011 FC Barcelona announced that Tito Vilanova had a tumor on his parotid gland and he underwent emergency surgery.

From 19th July to 4th August, Barcelona will host the 15th FINA World Aquatics Championships and will bring together 2,500 athletes from 180 countries to compete at the highest level. Events will be held at 4 unique facilities all within a 10 minute walk of each other, which will enable spectators to gain access to a wide variety of events. Ten years after hosting 10th Championships, Barcelona will again unite the world of aquatics for two weeks of events that is bound to create a spectacular atmosphere throughout the city. The budget of the Championships is roughly €25 million and will be broadcast to an estimated 520 million viewers in 160 countries.

Mireia Miró visits Barcelona a few times a year. Despite not feeling uncomfortable in an urban environment, where she grew up, she spends 90% of her time in the mountains. One of the reasons for being in Barcelona is to deal with media. She sometimes swaps mountain marathons for interview marathons. But it doesn’t bother her: “I think it is also important to tell the world what we do and what are our principles”.

The agreement to sell the mildfielder includes a clause that stipulates both teams will play against each other in a friendly. The match will be played sometime in the next four years. The 22-year-old leaves the Blaugrana after playing for the first team for two seasons. Thiago Alcántara do Nascimiento, born in San Prieto Vernotico, Italy, started playing in FC Barcelona’s youth system at the age of 14, in 2005. Thiago has played a crucial role for Spain throughout his international career. His excellent performance in the latest U21 EURO Championship in 2013, where Spain claimed the title, saw the midfielder win the MVP of the tournament award.

He’s one of the youngest riders to race at the highest level in Grand Prix motorcycle racing, the youngest to win a race at the MotoGP category and unquestionably a youngster with promise. Marc Márquez, who is racing professionally since 2008, is now only twenty years old and is already competing against the greatest motorcycle riders in the world. The youngest pilot to win a race in MotoGP answers some questions for CNA.