camp nou

1-1 draw against Atlético puts blaugranes into Copa del Rey final against Celta or Alavés. The blaugranes have reached the domestic cup final in seven of the last nine seasons and are currently the team who have won the competition on most occasions, 28 to be precise. Luis Suárez’s tap-in just before half-time was enough to see the Catalans into fourth consecutive Copa del Rey final despite late drama which saw the visitors equalise and the Uruguayan sent off. The omens were strongly in Barça’s favour, with Atlético failing to win in their previous 16 games at the Camp Nou, but Los Colchoneros knew they had to go for broke, with a 2-1 deficit needing to be overturned, which led to an enthralling cup match. “It’s been a tough process and all our opponents have caused us problems,” recalled Luis Enrique about a run to the final that has seen Barça eliminate Hércules, Athletic Club, Real Sociedad and most recently Atlético Madrid.

Barça hold a 2–1 aggregate advantage as they look to deliver a knockout punch at home for the fourth straight round and continue down the path to a rare Copa del Rey three-peat. In this season's Copa, which Camp Nou has been the scene of an impressive trio of second leg victories — in the last 32, in the last 16, and in the quarter-finals. And on Tuesday night, at 9.00pm CET the Catalans, now in the semis, hope to vanquish visiting Atlético Madrid as well, and continue their chase for a third straight title. Neymar Jr misses the game through suspension, while Rafinha is out with a fractured nose sustained at the weekend but Sergio Busquets, Andrés Iniesta and Lucas Digne are back to full fitness and get the nod. 

The dispute between Barça and UEFA over the display of Catalan independence flags, ‘estelades’, at the Camp Nou is definitely on track to reach a solution. The international body announced an agreement with FC Barcelona to end this litigation. The pact means that Barça will drop its appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) over the economic sanctions imposed on the club, while UEFA compromises to establish a working group “involving both clubs and national associations to review the disciplinary framework” that nowadays prevents the display of political symbols in stadiums. The conflict began in the Champions League final in Berlin last year when a Ukrainian UEFA delegate, Anna Bordiugova, who was not in the Olympic Stadium, denounced the exhibition of 'estelades' after watching the game on television.

Messi, Neymar and Suárez trio shone in their first match side by side in 115 days, helping FC Barcelona to their biggest ever Champions League win, a 7-0 victory over Celtic at the Camp Nou. It took just three minutes for Messi to get things going after he was played through by Neymar. It was a sign of things to come as the Argentine would go on to score his first hat-trick of the campaign, his sixth ever in the Champions League, a feat which makes him the player with the most hat-tricks in the history of the competition. “We practically didn’t commit any mistakes,” Luis Enrique beamed from the podium in the Ricard Maxenchs press room at Camp Nou following Barça’s opening round knockout. “The players had fun, and that allowed the Barça supporters to have fun,” he said.

The green and white hoops of Celtic have been a familiar sight at the Camp Nou in recent years, and the 47-times Scottish champions are back for the opening game of the Champions League 2016/17. The Celts are here for the third time in just five years and they’re up against a Catalan side that will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing home defeat to Alavés at the weekend. In Europe, remember, Barça are chasing a twelfth consecutive win at the Camp Nou. Speaking on Monday, Barça manager Luis Enrique said that “it’s useful to have faced Celtic in the preseason. They can be difficult to play against and did well to get through their qualifying rounds.” Messi, Suárez and Neymar will be outfield, same as Ter Stegen who has been included in the squad.

The Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Òmnium Cultural, the Platform Pro Catalan Sports Selections and the group of jurists ‘Drets’ (‘Rights’) will distribute 30,000 Catalan pro-independence flags at the Champions League match between FC Barcelona and Celtic FC taking place this Tuesday at Camp Nou. The initiative comes after UEFA’s €30,000 fine of FC Barcelona for the displaying of these flags during the Champions League final in Berlin last year. According to the Union of European Football Associations, the fine was issued because it officially condemns in Article 16.2 of its Disciplinary Regulations "the use of gestures, words, objects or any other means to transmit any message that is not fit for a sports event, particularly messages that are of a political, ideological, religious, offensive or provocative nature". 

FC Barcelona have won the 51st edition of its own Joan Gamper Trophy with a 3-2 win over Italian guests Sampdoria on the night that the Camp Nou made its first contact with the 2016/17 squad, and especially with the five new signings. All of them were given time on pitch in front of a carnival atmosphere that was led by a sparkling performance from MVP Leo Messi, who scored the second and third goals after setting up the first in extraordinary fashion. The Gamper Trophy stayed in Barcelona for the fourth time in a row, and also provided Luis Enrique with the chance to see all of his players in match action ahead of the first competitive fixture of 2016/16, the Spanish Super Cup first leg in Seville on Sunday.

The Camp Nou was treated to a night of emotions and spectacle – capped when the football squad appeared one by one, in order of shirt numbers, to rapturous cheers from the adoring crowds. Luis Enrique and his staff were also honoured in a fitting tribute to all the hard work they do, and which so often goes unnoticed behind the scenes. Celebrations like this are becoming common place of late at the Camp Nou, and may things remain that way! With 28 titles won in the last decade, the legend just keeps growing. The night erupted in a sea of red and blue confetti and pyrotechnics and so the curtain came down on another triumphant season at FC Barcelona. After the summer, it all starts again!

The Nikken Sekkei Studio (Japan) and the Pascual-Ausió architect firm (Catalonia) teamed up for the winning project for the New Camp Nou, which was presented to the media at the current stadium, in the presence of the first team. The New Camp Nou stadium will play on the current stadium´s signature overhanging roof, and it will hold itself to the highest standards of sustainability, utilising collected rainwater and solar power. To be concluded for the 2020/21 season, the New Camp Nou will have a capacity of 105,000, a growth which will allow members on the waitlist for seats to acquire tickets. The Les Corts neighbourhood in Barcelona provides the ideal backdrop for the new stadium, as it offers space for expansion, and since the additional buildings have been tailored to blend in with the surrounding area. 

Saturday night’s match at Camp Nou, was an epic game that had it all — a tear-inducing pre-game tribute to the recently passed Johan Cruyff and a minute of silence, frighteningly fearless tackling, heart-stopping end-to-end play and, somewhat surprisingly, a tight, evenly matched encounter standing in juxtaposition to an uncommonly large gap between the two arch-rivals in the league table. The loss, a dramatic reversal from the first meeting between the two rivals this season, when FC Barcelona routed Real in Madrid, 4–0, is FCB’s first defeat since 3 October and snaps their Spanish record 39-game unbeaten streak. What had been a ten-point gap between the league's first- and third-place teams now sits at seven.

Barça top Arsenal 3–1 (5–1 aggregate) to sew up a berth in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the ninth straight season. Goals from Neymar, Luis Suárez and Lionel Messi were more than enough to knock Arsenal out of the UEFA Champions League on a wet and chilly Wednesday night at Camp Nou. This is the third time FC Barcelona have bounced Arsenal from Europe’s top competition, after previously doing so in 2010 and 2011. The triumph qualifies Barça for the tournament’s quarter-final round for the ninth consecutive season. It is also their ninth straight victory across all competitions, and it brings their overall unbeaten streak to 38 games.

It's finally time to play that game in hand, which offers the chance to move six points clear at the top of the Liga table. FC Barcelona travel to Gijón to play the game originally postponed due to their participation at the Club World Cup in Japan. It’s now thirty games that Barça have strung together without losing, the longest unbeaten run in the history of Spanish football. We need to go all the way back to October 1994 to find the last case of a Sporting victory over Barça. Gijón is the town where Barça’s coach Luis Enrique grew up and Sporting is a club that shall forever be close to his heart. “Whenever I go back to El Molinón, it's special” he said on Tuesday. “But tomorrow I'm going back as a coach and I want to win” he stated. The Barça boss and Sporting’s coach, Abelardo Fernández have known each other since school, and the latter also spent part of his playing career at FC Barcelona.

On Wednesday at 9.30pm CET at Camp Nou the final part of the Barça v Athletic trilogy will be played out, the saga coming to an end in the second leg of their last 16 Copa del Rey tie. The opening encounter a week and a half ago saw Luis Enrique’s team storm to a 6-0 win at home in the league. Messi and Mathieu did not feature in the first leg, but are included in the 18 this time, which reads as follows: Ter Stegen, Masip, Piqué, Rakitic, Sergio, Dani Alves, Iniesta, Suárez, Messi, Neymar Jr, Mascherano, Bartra, Munir, Sergi Roberto, Adriano, Aleix Vidal, Vermaelen and Mathieu. “I'm expecting the same Athletic we saw in the first leg. Maybe even more dangerous.” Stated Barça’s coach, Luis Enrique.

One point would be enough to send the Catalans into the last sixteen of the Champions League and would also guarantee that they finish top of Group E. With the joy of a 4-0 triumph at Real Madrid still fresh in the memory, FC Barcelona return to the Camp Nou for Champions League action on Tuesday night at 8.45pm CET. Barça are on form. Even without Leo Messi they have just won nine out of ten games and kept a fifth consecutive clean sheet. With ten points out of a possible twelve in Champions Group E, one more against Roma would be enough to ensure qualification in first place. FC Barcelona and the Catalan police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, have established a set of extraordinary security measures to increase the safety of those in attendance, after the terrorist attacks in Paris; access to the stadium will open three hours before the game and backpacks, suitcases, fanny packs or large bags will not be allowed into Camp Nou,amongst other measures. 

The FC Barcelona vice president, Jordi Mestres assured that the Club "is not happy at all" with the UEFA sanction for the presence of Catalan Independence flags at Camp Nou during the Champions League game against Bayer Leverkusen. "We will never tell our members and fans to not express their opinion" Mestre commented to the media. "We will appeal against the decision, and if necessary, we will take legal advice" stated Mestres, at his arrival in Minsk this Tuesday, where FC Barcelona has a duel against BATE Borisov. This is not the first time that UEFA fines FC Barcelona for showing pro-independence flags during a match; at the Champions League final on the 6 June the club was sanctioned for the same reason.