A wonderful first half goal from the Brazilian full back made it three wins out of three for FC Barcelona. The Catalans are two points clear at the top of the Spanish League table going into September’s international break.
After taking it for the last three years, Barça lost their Spanish Super Cup title on Wednesday night, going down narrowly in Madrid and losing the tie on the away goals rule. Higuaín and Cristiano Ronaldo put Real Madrid ahead early on and Barça played with 10 men for more than an hour after Adriano was sent off. Messi brought Barça back into the tie with a superb free kick just before the break. Pedro, Alba, Montoya and Messi all came close to getting the goal that would have meant Barça retained their title.
Two second half goals from Messi turned around an early strike by Osasuna’s Joseba Llorente to give Barça the points in Pamplona. Real Madrid was defeated by Getafe. Real Madrid and FC Barcelona will play the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup Final next Wednesday.
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.
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.
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.
6 of the 8 Barça players that won the EURO title with Spain were named to the best team of the EURO. Valdés, Pedro and the Dutchman Afellay are the only Barça players that did not make the all-star team.
Spain is once again the favourite team going into Euro 2012. After breaking an international jinx of 44 years in 2008, they have not looked back since and possess a squad oozing with quality. Of the 23-man squad Vicente del Bosque is taking to the European Championship in Poland and Ukraine six are Catalan players. Their first match of the tournament is against Italy on June 10th.
Catalonia?s advanced technology sector is working together to attract foreign investment. Its protagonist is the Alba Synchrotron, a space that will bring 1,000 investigators to Catalonia each year.