FC Barcelona made light work of their fourth preseason friendly. Goals from Munir (2), Sergi Roberto, Piqué, Bartra and Sandro brought a fantastic end to a busy week with games in Nice, Geneva and now Helsinki. The atmosphere in the Olympic Stadium couldn’t have been better, but after FCB scored three times in the first fifteen minutes, the game itself was a lop-sided affair.
On Wednesday the World Health Organisation (WHO) appointed Barcelona-based researcher Pedro Alonso as the new Director of its Global Malaria Program. Alonso is a key figure in the global fight against malaria and has lead research into a vaccine to combat the life-threatening illness. He has been involved with WHO since 2011, when the organisation appointed him as the Chair of the GTS Steering Committee on the Global Technical Strategy on Malaria. Alonso is currently the Director of the Barcelona Institute for International Health Research. He is also the Head of the Department of International Health and Tropical Medicine at Barcelona's Hospital Clínic and a lecturer at Barcelona University. The physician is due to start his new position in October and is expected to give his formal recommendation on the strategy against malaria in the first quarter of 2015.
The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, and the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, finally met this Wednesday in Madrid to talk about the self-determination process and also about economic, social and institutional issues. Mas told Rajoy that a majority of the Catalan Parliament plans to hold a self-determination vote on the 9th of November and they want to do it "reaching an agreement with the Spanish Government and within the legal framework". However, if Rajoy rejects negotiating such an agreement, Mas will use the Catalan legal framework to organise a legal vote. Rajoy emphasised that the consultation vote "is not legal and will not be legal" and therefore "will not take place". However, the Spanish PM did not present any alternatives to modify the current status quo. Besides, Mas presented Rajoy with a document with 23 issues not related to self-determination, such as Catalonia's under-budgeted public services, pending infrastructure works, and the Education Reform.
The much awaited meeting between the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, and the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, has finally been announced for Wednesday 30th of July at 11am, after both politicians have stated during several months that they were open to talk. In the meeting they will discuss the institutional and social affairs related to the economic crisis, but they should also talk about the organisation of a self-determination vote in Catalonia. However, Rajoy has rejected to talk about it, as he considers it "an absurd" debate, despite the fact that 80% of Catalans want to hold such a vote and it is the main topic in Catalonia's political agenda, and probably in Spain's as well. Besides, on Monday 28th of July, Rajoy will meet Pedro Sánchez, the new Secretary General of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), who is also against Catalonia's self-determination and offered his will to reach agreements on "the territorial model".
Madrid-born Pedro Sánchez won the primaries of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) with 48% of the votes and will be elected the party's new Secretary General, replacing Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba. Meanwhile, Miquel Iceta received 85% of the votes and will replace Pere Navarro as the new Secretary General of the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), being the only candidate in these primaries. Both of them share the previous leaderships' views on Catalonia's self-determination process: they oppose independence and November's consultation vote. Both the PSOE and the PSC held elections on Sunday but the primaries' winners will be officially elected by the emergency party congresses to be held over the next two weekends. Sánchez defeated Eduardo Madina (36%) and José Antonio Pérez Tápias (15%), who was the only candidate fully supporting Catalonia's self-determination vote and shaping Spain as a pluri-national state.
FC Barcelona host Celta at the Camp Nou four days after winning at Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu. Sunday’s 4-3 win in the clásico has put Barça back in contention in an incredibly tight championship race. Just one point separates Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona, and any setback could leave any of these teams in a very difficult position indeed. There are just nine games to go, and every one of them is absolutely crucial. It may sound like a cliché, but they all need to be treated like finals. The legendary Luis Enrique, who played for FC Barcelona for eight seasons and managed Barça B team for three, is back for the first time as a visitor. Gerardo Martino has dropped Oier, Montoya, Afellay and Xavi, the latter being rested after starting five games in a row.
Three days ahead of their trip to Manchester, Barça put on a sparkling performance to reaffirm their top spot in the Spanish League with a 6-0 win over Rayo on Saturday evening. Adriano, Messi (2), Alexis, Pedro and Neymar scored the goals in the win. Two first half goals opened the door and after the break the chances and goals just kept coming. Rayo refused to park the bus though and despite the obvious gap in class between them and their hosts, the Madrid team stuck firm to their own attacking style and the game opened up with both teams playing the ball out from the back and pressing high up the pitch. Martino gave the crowd something else to cheer, bringing on Neymar after his month long injury lay off on 61 minutes.
Barça overcome the elements to re-take the Spanish League’s top spot in Seville - a spot they’d held all season until last weekend. Although Martino’s side weren’t as dominant as normal this Sunday evening, they showed a lethal finishing touch up front to come back from the hosts’ early strike with Alexis, Messi –two lovely goals – and Cesc give Barça an important win in the rain. On the quarter hour Seville took the lead thanks to an unlucky rebound off Bartra as Alberto Moreno shot from the edge of the box.In the first half, Seville had four clear chances and only put one away, whilst Barça finished off the two opportunities they had to go in with a 1-2 lead.
FC Barcelona offer a brilliant all round performance as team cruise past Malaga with goals from Piqué, Pedro and Alexis. The Catalans put the institutional turmoil of the last week behind them, as they treated the Barça fans to a great night of football and reaffirmed their top spot in the Spanish League. Fast, precise and full of attacking threat, Barça returned to the Camp Nou after 18 fays without a home game and from the off they had Malaga pinned back in their own half. After just 5 minutes, Alexis rounded off a great team move with an effort which rattled the woodwork. Malaga showed that they could pose a threat too though, when Duda brought a good stop from Valdes from a free kick. Ibrahim Afellay got a big round of applause when he came on for Alexis.
Three goals from the Catalan and an own goal from Juanfran give FC Barcelona a 1-4 victory at the Ciutat de Valencia. Leo Messi assisted Tello all three times. Three goals for the Catalan – his first hat trick in the FC Barcelona strip – finished the game and perhaps the quarter-final tie. FC Barcelona bounced back from this weekend’s draw in the Spanish League as they comfortably defeated Levante in the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals. They did it despite having to deal with a very similar match to the one played this Sunday. Now, Barça and Levante will close out the three-game series next week on Wednesday, January 29, at the Camp Nou (22:00 CET).
With Pedro on fire, Barça put five past Getafe, who led 2-0 after 14 minutes. FC Barcelona stay top of the Spanish League thanks to Pedro's hat trick and Cesc’s brace. Two early goals from Getafe looked to have set an even more difficult task for Martino’s team, but Barça fought back with quality, character and pride in a tough ground and with a side devastated by injuries and suspensions. Pedro scored three, set up another and forced a penalty with a wonderful performance.
Despite Cartagena's shock opener, goals from Pedro (2), Cesc and Dongou put Barça in clear command of their Copa del Rey tie. FC Barcelona have got their Spanish Cup campaign off to a fine start. The many positives to take from this game included Jean Marie Dongou not only making his debut but also scoring his first goal for the first team, and Jordi Alba returning from injury to play 80 untroubled minutes.
Nothing can stop Barça in the Spanish League. FC Barcelona overcome their injury woes to beat Granada with goals from Andrés Iniesta (pen), Cesc Fàbregas (pen), Alexis Sánchez and Pedro. In the 81st minute, Adama Traoré came on to make his first team debut replacing Neymar.The return from the international break could not have been more perfect. Four different players scored, Pinto kept a clean sheet,and none of Valdés, Alves, Xavi or Messi were particularly missed, with the latter showing off his Golden Boot before the match.
Neymar, Pedro and Cesc (2) score to put Barça three points ahead of Atletico Madrid at the top of the Spanish League table with a 1-4 win at Betis’ Benito Villamarín on Sunday evening. This wasn’t as straightforward a win for Barça as the score might suggest though, with a brave Betis side never giving up and the worrying sight of Leo Messi limping off in the first half. It was Betis who created the chances early on, with the excellent Victor Valdés saving the day with two great stops from Jorge Molina and Juan Carlos, as FC Barcelona struggled to deal with the loss of Messi - replaced by Iniesta on 20 minutes.
Three goals from Pedro, one from Cesc and another great Valdés performance give Barça three more points at the Spanish League campaign. Valdés stopped his second penalty in two games when the scores were just 0-1.It was an even enough first half, with Rayo making some good early chances.Two minutes into the second half, Barça were ahead after Pedro got his second.That made it five wins from five, with next up Real Sociedad at the Camp Nou on Tuesday.