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A goal from Vermaelen enough to give Barça victory in their first home league game of the season on a frustrating evening at Camp Nou. FC Barcelona gave a masterclass in sticking to the task and never giving up with a narrow victory over a dogged Málaga side. Thomas Vermaelen was the hero of the hour, the Belgian’s first ever goal for Barça in the second half enough to maintain the blaugranes’ 100 per cent record at the start of this 2015/16 league season.

The blaugranes face their first league game of the season at Camp Nou against the Andalusians in a game which kicks off at 8.30pm CET. Luis Enrique's side got off to an excellent start to the league campaign last weekend with a 1-0 win against Athletic Club Bilbao, Luis Suárez's goal giving them all three points. Before the game against Málaga, which will be the first since the pitch was recently relaid, captain Andrés Iniesta will present the European Super Cup to the crowd following their victory in the competition earlier this month in Tbilisi. At the same time Leo Messi will also show off the UEFA Best Player in Europe accolade collected on Thursday at the gala for the draw for the Champions League group stage.

“Catalonia is not divided and it won’t be”, said Catalan President Artur Mas during the first big event of the cross-party coalition ‘Junts pel Sí’ (Together for Yes), which brings together members of the civil society and politicians from both right and left that favour independence. In a rally attended by 40,000 people, Mas defended that ‘Junts pel Sí’ is an example of the determination of the Catalan people, which have put ideological differences aside to achieve independence from Spain. The event in Barcelona was the official presentation of the candidates of the ‘Junts pel Sí’ ticket. The cross-party coalition led by former Green MEP Raül Romeva has already achieved support from up to 57.000 citizens that have signed up as symbolic “candidates” for the 27-S election. The poll is considered by many as a ‘de facto’ referendum on independence.

The Vicepresident of the Spanish Government, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, confirmed on Friday that the People’s Party won’t include constitutional reform in its electoral manifesto. Her words shut down a debate started by her own Minister of Justice, Rafael Catalá, who suggested that Constitutional Reform could be studied. Sáenz de Santamaría said that the PP will not present any initiative to reform the Constitution because that would require a “clear objective” and “consensus” amongst political parties. The Spanish Vicepresident also warned that no constitutional reform would ever satisfy the demands of pro-independence parties in Catalonia. “It is very difficult to satisfy someone who is not willing to be satisfied”, she warned.

Spanish officers have searched the headquarters of the Catalan President’s Liberal Party CDC and those of the party’s foundation, CatDem. Investigators have also searched the local councils of Figueres, Lloret de Mar, Sant Celoni and Sant Cugat del Vallès, all towns in which the party is currently or has previously been in power. The searches are part of an ongoing investigation into alleged irregular financing of the party. The general coordinator of CDC, Josep Rull, denied the accusation of irregular financing, saying that all donations to the foundation CatDem have always been “legal and public”. In a press conference in Barcelona, Rull accused the Spanish government of trying to “influence” the electoral campaign. Catalonia is going to the polls on the 27th of September in what many consider a ‘de facto’ plebiscite on independence from Spain.

FC Barcelona will begin the defence of their title in Group E following the draw on Thursday in Monaco. Luis Enrique's team will begin the road to Milan - the venue for this season's final - and their first challenge will be against the sides from Germany, Italy and Belarus in the group stages. Barça have met Bayer three times in the Champions League era. AS Roma was the rival of the Joan Gamper trophy a few weeks ago, while BATE Borisov is former Barça man Aleksander Hleb’ team.

The Argentine received a total of 49 votes, beating Luis Suárez (3) and Cristiano Ronaldo (2) to the award. The recognition is deserved after an exceptional season for the Barça number 10 in which he scored 58 goals in 57 competitive matches in 2015/16. He scored in the Vicente Calderón against Atlético to hand the blaugranes the league title and he found the net twice in the Copa del Rey final win over Athletic Club. Messi was exceptional in the Champions League final against Juventus, although he was unable to score the goal his performance deserved. Previously, in the semi-finals against Bayern Munich, his two goals were decisive in deciding the tie, one of which has been voted as the best of the Champions League season.

Roger Albinyana was invited to attend a meeting of the Commission of International Affairs of the Latin American country to discuss the independence process in Catalonia, the reasons behind it and what could happen after the 27th of September election. The Catalan Foreign Affairs Secretary appeared before the Commission, despite reported “pressure” from Spanish diplomats to cancel the event. The spokesperson for Liberal CDC in the Spanish Senate, Josep-Lluís Cleries, urged Spanish Minister José Manuel García-Margallo to clarify whether his embassy in Montevideo had tried to cancel the appearance. It’s the third time that a foreign country has convened a debate about the independence process in Catalonia, following similar events in Denmark and Ireland.

The economic crisis might be over in GDP terms, with growth in both Spain and Catalonia, but its social and labour effects still persist. That is according to the two main unions in Catalonia, UGT and CCOO, that warned on Wednesday that much still needs to be done. A report by UGT has suggested that Catalonia needs to create 400,000 new jobs to reach the levels of employment that it had before the economic crisis. The report, which analyses the situation between 2007 and 2015, regrets the fact that there are now more temporary and part-time contracts. The CCOO has said that new street mobilisations will be needed this autumn in order to ask for better working conditions for employees in the country.

The Catalan Film Archive presents this September a season celebrating the career of acclaimed Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman, born 100 years ago this year. The ‘Ingrid Bergman Centenary’ will include the projection of 17 of her films, including some from her first years in the acting business in her native Sweden, the successful ‘Casablanca’ and her last movie, also Swedish, ‘Höstsonaten’. Remembered as one of the great stars of Hollywood, Bergman once said that she never “sought success in order to get fame and money”. “It’s the talent and the passion that count in success”, the leading actress from Casablanca added.

Opposition parties have accused the Catalan President of trying to use the chamber for “electoral purposes”, and the PPC has already rejected attending the debate. Artur Mas will address Parliament “probably” on the 2nd of September, just one week before the electoral campaign kicks off, according to the President of the Catalan Chamber, Nuria de Gispert. His aim is to explain why he called early elections for the 27th of September, which are considered by supporters of independence as a ‘de facto’ referendum on separation from Spain. Mas’ appearance before Parliament has the support of his Liberal CDC and the left-wing pro-independence ERC, but has been criticised by all the other opposition parties.

The proportion of investment earmarked for Catalonia in next year’s Spanish budget will be 10.7% of the total, a figure that the Catalan government spokeswoman, Neus Munté, considers totally insufficient. “It is far from the 19.8% Catalan contribution to the Spanish GDP or from the 16% that citizens living in Catalonia represent”, she said on Tuesday after the Spanish government defended the figures in the Spanish Parliament in Madrid. Munté regretted that cultural investment in Catalonia will plummet: the Spanish government will spend three times more money on three museums in Madrid than on all the museums of Catalonia. According to the Spanish Minister of the Treasury, Cristóbal Montoro, the budget is “what Spain, its economy and its citizens need”.

The Catalan capital attracts the interest of some of the most prestigious hotel chains in the world, and has more 5 star establishments than London or Paris. Up to 13% of tourist accommodation in Barcelona is provided by luxury or 5 star establishments, a percentage that is 10% in the British capital and 7.5% in the French one. The new mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, introduced in July a one-year moratorium on new tourist accommodation to regulate the influx of visitors to the city that has affected eight of the eleven new luxury projects in Barcelona. However, neither the number of beds on offer nor the ban have reduced interest from international businesspeople, whom continue to see the Catalan capital as a “very attractive” place to invest, according to experts.

Illegal street trading, known in Catalonia as ‘top manta’, is an old and complex problem in many tourist towns in Catalonia. But councils feel alone and powerless when they try to deal with it. The recent death of Senegalese citizen Mor Sylla in Salou during a police operation against illegal vending has raised the alarms about a phenomenon that has economic, social and security implications. The mayors of Barcelona, Roses, Sitges and El Vendrell, some of the towns most adversely affected by this issue, have urged the Catalan and Spanish governments to intervene because this “is not a local problem” but a national, and even international one.

The Museum of Wine Culture of Catalonia (VINSEUM) is exporting the enotourism model of its Penedès region to the Uruguayan towns of Montevideo and Canelones. The museum is coordinating a collaboration project with these Latin American cities in order to boost their wine industry. The strategy is to mirror the steps taken by cellars in Catalonia’s Penedès region, one of the oldest and most renowned wine-producing regions in the Iberian Peninsula, especially well-known for Cava, a Catalan sparkling wine. The project, which includes visits by Uruguayan producers to Catalonia, is also an opportunity for the Penedès region to boost its reputation in Latin America.