samper

Less than a week ago a superb second half from the blaugranes at Camp Nou gave them a 3-0 victory over the German champions in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final. Two exquisite goals from Leo Messi in his 100th game in Europe for the blaugranes and an injury time effort from Neymar mean that Pep Guardiola’s Bayern side have it all to do in the second leg in the Allianz Arena in Munich which kicks off at 8.45pm CET. Barça coach Luis Enrique decided to take his entire first team squad plus three players from the B squad, Munir, Sandro and Sergi Samper, to Munich. Jérémy Mathieu was included in that 26 man list after receiving the medical all clear after Sunday’s training session. Bayern boss Pep Guardiola still has plenty of injury headaches before the return leg at home to Barça. Arjen Robben, David Alaba, Franck Ríbery and Holger Badstuber all missed the defeat in Barcelona last week and they will also sit out the second leg

The Spanish Ministry of Education has filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Catalonia (TSJC) to cancel the already-sent enrolment applications for the next school year in order to include the option of choosing Spanish as the language of tuition. Five parties representing 80% of the Catalan Parliament have strongly protested against this "new attack" on a school model that guarantees that pupils master both Spanish and Catalan and has many flexibility measures for newcomers. The model is also backed by an extremely broad majority of Catalan society and only a few dozen families, out of the 1.55 million pupils in Catalonia, had requested education in Spanish. Linguistic immersion in Catalan ensures knowledge of the language by children who are not regularly exposed to it, while the model also ensures knowledge of Spanish. Therefore, equal opportunities and complete bilingualism are ensured. However, the model has been the target of Spanish nationalists for a long time.

Luis Enrique was able to celebrate his managerial debut in the Champions League with three points, but just as he had warned beforehand, the APOEL Nicosia presented a far tougher challenge than many had predicted. Despite dominating almost of the play, Barça only found the net once, a Gerard Piqué header after 27 minutes. Ter Stegen pulled on the goalkeeper’s jersey for the first time in an official match, and the night also meant the first starts of the season for Bartra, Adriano, Samper, Xavi and Sergi Roberto. The starting eleven featured no fewer than nine changes with respect to the one that beat Bilbao at the weekend.

Barça are about to get their 2014/15 Champions League bid under way against APOEL of Nicosia at the Camp Nou. Top of the Liga table with three wins out of three and no goals conceded, they’re in a buoyant mood at the moment, and now’s the time to carry that excellent form across into Europe against the Cypriot champions, the first game in a group that also includes Ajax and Paris Saint-Germain. Luis Enrique has called on the fans for their support and promised a "spectacular game". This will be the Asturian’s first game in charge of a team in Europe’s premier club competition, for which Dani Alves is included after being declared fully recovered from his knee injury, and fellow Brazilian Douglas has been named in the side for the first time since arriving at FC Barcelona.

The Mayor of Lleida, Angel Ros, announced he was quitting the Catalan Parliament since he rejects voting against self-determination on Thursday, as imposed by the leadership of the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC). 4 other MPs might break from the party lines as well and a 6^th one - who had expressed serious doubts - finally announced he would follow the leadership instructions. They represent 30% of the PSC MPs, so their ‘rebellion’ is far from being an anecdote. In fact, the party leadership warned them they might even end up being expelled if they were breaking the ranks on this crucial vote. On Thursday, the Catalan Parliament will vote on an initiative asking the Spanish Parliament to transfer the powers to organise a referendum to the Catalan Government, following Article 150.2 of the Spanish Constitution. This formula – similar to the one used in Scotland – would enable the organisation of a legal self-determination referendum in Catalonia, something the PSC explicitly promised in the last elections but is now rejecting.

As agreed, the PP abstained during the vote on the Catalan Government’s budget for 2012. The final text was approved with the 62 votes from CiU MPs, which controls the Catalan Government, the one vote from an independent MP, and the abstention of the PP. The rest of the parties have voted against it, in a tense plenary that has formalised the distance between the Government and the Left-Wing opposition parties. The details of some of the budget’s measures will have to be approved in one month, because three minority parties have asked for a “constitutionality” check.