Sports

The Barcelona Half Marathon took place on Sunday in the Catalan capital. At exactly 8.45 am the first group started out on its 21km run followed by two other groups, five and ten minutes later. Only one hour and four seconds later the first runner reached the finish line: Eliud Kipchoge, from Kenya. With a time of 1 hour, 7 minutes and 32 seconds, the first woman passed the finish line, Atsede Baysa, from Ethiopia. The 14,325 participants registered for the 2013 run set a new record in the race’s history.

Two second half goals from Leo Messi turned the result round after Ighalo had put a brave Granada ahead and gave Barça three more points in their title bid. With the World Number One leading the team though, Barça put in an impeccable second half performance and set things up nicely for Wednesday’s trip to San Siro, when the Catalans will be playing AC Milan at the Champions League last 16 first leg.

FC Barcelona go to Granada on Saturday for the first in a marathon series of five games in 14 days, including massive matches with Milan in the European Champions League and Real Madrid in the Spanish Cup. The Manager has said in the press conference before the Granada vs. FC Barcelona game that “we are in comfortable position in the league but that should be no excuse for any kind of relaxation”. “We’re into the nice part of the season when in a few days there are lots of things at stake. In terms of fitness and morale this is a good moment for us” commented Roura.

David Alegre, Quico Cortés and Roger Padrós are three Catalan field hockey players who were selected in the Hockey India League draft. All three have been representing Catalonia in this league’s debut season. The goalkeeper Cortés eventually won the HIL championship with his team, the Ranchi Rhinos. While 11 Catalan players were part of the draft, only three of them became HIL players. They have fought with their respective teams to win the league and have already flight back to their European clubs after a short but intense experience.

Barça Regal won the 23rd Cup in Club history this Sunday evening thanks to a superb performance in the final against Valencia Basket.This is the third Cup won by the Blaugrana of the Xavi Pascual era. Pete Mickeal was named the MVP of the final.

A great performance from Barça to beat Getafe with goals by Alexis, Messi, Villa, Tello, Iniesta and Piqué. In the absence of midfield maestro Xavi, Andrés Iniesta and Leo Messi directed a free-flowing Barça attack while assistant coach Jordi Roura was able to rest some of his overstretched players. The game was the first morning kick-off seen in the Camp Nou for several decades.

The four-time Ballon d'Or will be a Barça player through June 30 of 2018. Messi has signed his new contract with FC Barcelona, which adds two additional years to his previous contract, set to expire in June 2016. Messi, who joined FC Barcelona when he was 13 years old and made his first-team debut three years later, will be 31 when his contract expires.

Valdés, Piqué, Puyol, Alba, Busquets, Iniesta, Cesc, Pedro, Villa, Alexis, Messi, Mascherano, Alves and Adriano will play for their respective national teams on Wednesday in friendlies. Alexis Sánchez, who was named to Chile's national team, will make the shortest trip, seeing that his national team is set to play in Madrid. On the other hand, Spain, with nine Blaugrana named to the team, will travel the farthest. The Spanish side will play in Qatar against Uruguay. Carles Puyol could play his 100th match for the Spanish national team.

Valencia’s Mestalla stadium is never an easy place to take points from, but although it again proved a tough venue for Barça on Sunday, the Spanish League leaders came away with a valuable draw from a game with few chances in either box after a Messi penalty just before the break equalised Banega’s opener.

The Catalan forward will play for the Dutch team until the end of the current season. Ajax does not have the option to buy the player once the loan period expires. Formed in FC Barcelona’s youth system, Cuenca’s breakout year was the 2010/11 season, when he played a decisive role in Sabadell’s promotion-winning season from Segunda B to Segunda A. The following season he returned to Pep Guardiola’s Barça, where he enjoyed first team action and featured in 30 games for the senior side. However, he was seriously injured at the end of last season and he was not was given the green light to return to competitive play since 10 days ago.

Barça managed a valuable draw at Real Madrid in Wednesday’s Spanish Cup semi final, but will feel short-changed after displaying superior football and creating so many wasted chances. Cesc made it 1-0 in the 50th minute, but without doing much to warrant it, Real Madrid snatched a draw with ten minutes to go.

Jordi Roura can call on his most important players for the match against Real Madrid. Los Blancos are without Casillas, Pepe (injured), Ramos, Coentrao and Di María (suspended). However, the Blaugrana know that Real Madrid, despite coming into the match with important absences, have always been a very dangerous side. Roura is aware that overconfidence could lead to a disastrous result at the Bernabéu. Barça coaching staff and the players have rubbished being called favourites for this Wednesday match, despite the 15-point lead FC Barcelona have in the Spanish League.

Jordi Roura, Barça’s assistant manager, has made it very clear that he expects Real Madrid to be highly competitive in the Spanish Cup semi-final’s first leg on Wednesday night. “These are very tight matches that are decided by small details”, he observes. FC Barcelona and Real Madrid are facing the clasico in a very different situation: the Catalans lead the Spanish League, 15 points ahead the all-whites.

Four goals from Leo Messi and another from Pedro gave Barça a big win against Osasuna, who played with 10 men from the 26th minute. The victory put to bed any doubts after last week’s defeat to Real Sociedad. Such was Barça’s superiority that they were able to give a rest to some of their players ahead of this week’s tough schedule, with Wednesday’s ‘clasico’ against Real Madrid at the Spanish Cup’s semi-finals.

Barcelona’s reign as host to the Handball World Championship came to an end on Sunday evening as Spain destroyed Denmark by no less than sixteen goals at a sold-out Palau Sant Jordi (35-19). Seven Catalan players, most of them on the books of FC Barcelona Intersport, were part of the sixteen-strong world championship winning team. Last night, Croatia beat Slovenia 31-26 to take the bronze medal on the podium.