Sports

A very young Barça was unable to prevent Sampdoria, who scored in the first minute, from taking the honours in the Joan Gamper Trophy. FC Barcelona dominated for most of the 90 minutes, but failed to find a response to the Italian club’s early opener.

The Cameroon international player signed on Monday his new five-year contract with FC Barcelona. On Saturday, the Catalan club and Arsenal FC agreed to terms for Song; Barça will pay the London side €19 million for the player’s services.

Puyol opened the scoring with a header after just three minutes. The Basques drew level six minutes later through Chory Castro. Barça hit back with two goals from Leo Messi to make it 3-1 within the first 15 minutes. Pedro and the returning Villa rounded off the scoring with goals at the end of each half. It was an emphatic win in Tito Vilanova’s opening Spanish League game.

FC Barcelona will make its Spanish League debut against the txuri-urdin, who, despite only winning three times at the Camp Nou, have strengthened their squad this summer and hope to finish in the top 6. The most notable additions to Real Sociedad are Chori Castro, José Ángel, on loan from Roma, and Carlos Vela, the team’s highest scorer last season - the player was purchased from Arsenal after being on loan last season.

Barça players face a hectic opening of the season, with five games in the first fifteen days - three league matches and the two Spanish Super Cup games against Real Madrid. In addition, next Monday’s Joan Gamper Estrella Damm Trophy pits them against Sampdoria.

Ivan Tibau, the Catalan Government’s Secretary of Sport, emphasises the “great effort” made by the Catalan Excutive to help the High Performance Sports Centre (CAR) and Catalan athletes compete in London 2012. The elite training centre did not receive funding from the Spanish Government for the last two years, amounting to €10.7 million. The Catalan Executive advanced the payment to keep the CAR running. Athletes trained at CAR made up 65% of medals won by the Spanish team at the London 2012 Olympics. Despite this, the Spanish Olympic Committee “closed the door” to the Catalan Government in regards to London 2012.

Sis Barça players are flying to Puerto Rico to play for Spain. Valdés, Piqué, Sergio Busquets, Iniesta, Pedro and Cesc have all been called up by Vicente Del Bosque.Afellay has been picked in Louis van Gaal’s first squad, while Mano Menezes is taking Alves to the friendly between Sweden and Brazil. Messi and Mascherano are also in Sabella’s squad for a game with Germany, and Alexis Sánchez will be crossing the Atlantic for Chile’s game with Ecuador.

Barça beat Manchester United in a penalty shootout in the ‘SuperMatchen’ Trophy in Gothenburg tonight. Barça controlled most of the game, though they needed a penalty save from Víctor Valdés to keep the scores level after 90 minutes. Jordi Alba made his debut with FC Barcelona.

Manchester United and FC Barcelona meet in Sweden in a re-run of the Champions League finals of 2009 and 2011, both of which were won by Barça. Jordi Alba, Fontàs and Villa are all going on the ‘mini-tour’ as they get in shape for the new season.

FC Barcelona’s Manager, Tito Vilanova, has taken every player he can, including Jordi Alba, as well as Villa and Fontàs, for the forthcoming friendly games against Manchester United and Dinamo Bucharest. Jonathan dos Santos, with a sprain, didn’t train on Tuesday and stays in Barcelona.

Barça won the Paris Trophy beating PSG on penalties after Messi and Rafinha had scored to make it 2-2 at full time. After the friendlies in Hamburg (1-2) and Tangier (0-8), this was a tougher test for Tito Villanova’s men, as Carlos Ancelotti’s much reinforced PSG , who are looking to be a force in the European game this coming season, held them to a 2-2 draw at the Parc de Principes, before the visitors won on penalties.

The FC Barcelona’s forward will increase his work rate and physical conditioning in the team’s upcoming training sessions in order to be match fit as soon as possible. Doctors Cugat and Pruna note that “he’s doing very well medically, but he’s not in optimal physical condition yet”. Villa was injured last December, in the semifinals of the Club World Cup.

Barça’s Argentine star is hugely grateful to the Catalan club for extending his contract until June 30, 2016. Mascherano will be 32 years old when his contract ends and feels that seeing out his career as a Barça player is in his own hands. “It depends on me and how I perform as a footballer” he said. The buyout clause has been raised to 100 million euros.

FCB Escola unveiled its new Campus in the Beijing Olympic Center. The two-week camp, FCB Escola’s first in China, will serve to bring Barça’s values and training methodology to aspiring Chinese footballers.

The Catalan defender has been at FC Barcelona’s offices the day before he signed his new contract with the Catalan club. The visit is the first step in a busy 36 hours for Barça’s latest signing and recent Euro 2012 winner.