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Since this Monday Barcelona forms part of the global network of cities that boast an American Space, a place to promote cultural exchange with the United Sates. The Ignasi Iglésias-Can Fabra library inaugurated this morning a centre called American Space Barcelona that will offer free activities, programmes and workshops to citizens. The programme of activities of the centre aims at providing information on the US, teaching the English language and giving academic advice to study in the North American country.Barcelona’s Deputy Mayor for Business, Innovation and Culture, James Collboni, stated that the centre will allow “to overcome stereotypes, prejudices and preconceived ideas” about the United States, especially among young people. 

FC Barcelona became the first team to leave the Sánchez Pizjuán with points as goals courtesy of Leo Messi and Luis Suárez after Vitolo’s opener gave the Catalans a precious win. The blaugranes came from behind to earn a 2-1 win at Sevilla on Sunday in a breathless encounter at the ever-intense Sánchez Pizjuán stadium. The Andalusians had won all five of their home league games going into the encounter but Leo Messi’s equaliser just before the break followed by Luis Suárez’s strike on the hour-mark sealed an important victory for the Catalans. “It is a win that strengthens us all as a team and individually”, said Barça’s coach, Luis Enrique. “The Pizjuán is a tough ground, with great pressure from the opponent, but as we showed, we managed the came perfectly”, he added.

Manchester City staged an exhilarating comeback and beat FC Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday at Etihad Stadium (3-1). Pep Guardiola’s team stole the game and the three points to Barça, who had the opportunity to sentence the first half, but started to feel the pressure six minutes before the interval, after an error by Sergi Roberto, leading to a goal and the resurrection of Manchester players. Ilkay Gundogan was undoubtley Manchester City star, scoring twice. The blaugrana, who were chasing a fourth consecutive win on English soil, did not achieve their objective. The home side desperation to get the three points beat Barça’s desire and marked a sense of urgency in their football.

This Friday’s plenary session at Barcelona City Hall resulted in the reprobation of Mayor Ada Colau. All the parties in the Chamber except from the governing alternative left alliance ‘Barcelona en Comú’ and radical left pro-independence CUP criticised Colau’s “politics of gesture”. “Today your government was defeated, the majority in the chamber censors your way of governing and is telling you that we can’t continue like this”, stated liberal CiU’s spokesman in Barcelona City Hall, Joaquim Forn. Moreover, Forn committed to discussing with all the groups in the Chamber how “to build an alternative majority to the current government”. Colau, a former activist especially committed to fighting evictions, won the local elections in May last year. However, she only obtained 11 seats, just one more than the second most voted list, CiU.

The Catalan Minister for Territory and Sustainability, Josep Rull, assured that the Government will do everything in its power to keep the ban on bullfighting in Catalonia, which has been reversed this Thursday by the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC). Rull insisted that the executive’s will is to have “a country in which those shows which imply death and animal torture will not be allowed”. The civic platform 'Prou!' (“Enough!” in Catalan), which presented the Popular Legislative Initiative to the Parliament that led to the prohibition of bullfighting in Catalonia, also reacted to the TC’s decision. The platform considered it “a shameful return to the past” and described it as a “political decision”. The TC considered the Parliament to have “exceeded its competences” and “restricted the citizens’ rights and freedoms” when banning bullfighting in 2010 and defines bullfighting as an “intangible cultural heritage”.

A sweet victory for Luis Enrique on Wednesday night, soundly defeating his friend and former teammate, Pep Guardiola, 4–0, in the third Group C game for FC Barcelona and Manchester City. Lionel Messi, of course, was the star of the show, scoring thrice to leave not just his former manager on the losing end but his leaving his current manager almost lost for words. “He was decisive,” Luis Enrique said after the game. “He was involved in all the game’s key moments.” Guardiola was handily defeated at Camp Nou for the second time in two matches since leaving his lifelong club five seasons ago.  Besides Messi’s seventh career Champions League hat-trick, Neymar Jr added a late goal.

The 20^th edition of Barcelona Meeting Point (BMP), the international and professional real estate trade fair in Spain, opened this Wednesday. The inauguration was marked by contention. The Catalan representatives decided not to attend it. The Catalan Minister for Public Administration, Meritxell Borràs, and the Catalan Minister for Planning and Sustainability, Josep Rull, informed the President of the BMP of their decision through a letter. The reason for their absence is that by Tuesday, less than 24 hours before the start of the fair, the organisers had still not informed the Catalan representatives about the time of the event, as they were waiting to know the agenda of the Spanish representative. The Catalan Ministers assessed this lack of information as “disregard and informality towards members of the Government of Catalonia and all the attendees”.

Camp Nou welcomes back Pep Guardiola on Matchday 3 of the Champions League for what promises to be an exhilarating game. “There are games against opponents in which possession is not that important. It will be against Manchester City, but that does not mean that who has more possession will win”, said Barça’s coach, Luís Enrique, on Tuesday. Most manager’s fear facing Leo Messi, but Guardiola spoke of his joy to see former star back: “It’s always a pleasure to see him play and I am happy he is fit again,” before adding that, in his opinion, Barça are “the best team in the world”. Barça are looking for their third straight win of the campaign to consolidate their place at the top of the group while Manchester City will be craving a good result after drawing away to bottom side Celtic last time out.

On a day like today, 30 years ago, Barcelona achieved its long-time dream to become the venue for the Olympic Games. It was 1.30 pm on Friday the 17^th of October 1986 when the President of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, announced that Barcelona had just won the nomination to host the major sports event in 1992. The proclamation was followed by an outburst of joy in Catalonia and also in the Palais de Beaulie of Lausanne, the venue of the IOC session. Barcelona won the race over five other cities, Paris, Brisbane (Australia), Belgrade, Amsterdam and Birmingham, and by doing so it gained a place on the world map, undertook a major urban transformation and breathed into its citizens a feeling of great pride in their city.  

The Sagrada Família is one of the most emblematic, but also one of the most polemic, buildings in Barcelona. With up to 10,000 visitors per day, more than 3 million every year, the most iconic building by Antoni Gaudí is a nightmare for neighbours, who have to deal with congestion in their streets and are afraid that the temple construction works may be expanded beyond the current enclosure. Recently, though, a new controversy has also arisen. After more than a century under construction, Barcelona City Hall has announced that it will request the basilica board to pay taxes and have a building permit, which it does not currently possess. According to the estimations, this licence will demand €840,000 of the Barcelona Archbishop, €8.4 million by 2026, the year in which the works are supposed to be completed.

Barcelona Games World has kicked off this Thursday at the Montjuic Exhibition Centre in the Catalan Capital. In its first edition in Barcelona, after the organisers decided to move it from Madrid, the fair expects to surpass the 90,000 visitors that attended Madrid Games Week last year. The event, which will last until the 9^th of October, will count on the participation of 155 exhibitors setting up showcases by brands such as Electronic Arts, Nintendo and Badland Games. The fair will serve as a connecting point between businesses, facilitating the market for professionals who work in the field, but there will also be room for amateur and professional video games competitions and conferences by key gurus of the video game industry. 

Over 50 speakers from all around the globe are to attend this week the Second World Gaudí Congress. From the 4th to the 7th of October the Historic Building of the University of Barcelona is hosting this biennial event organised by the Gaudí Research Institute (TGRI) and the University of Barcelona, ??where Antoni Gaudí received the title of architect in 1878. One of the main attractions of the congress is the thesis that the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of the Church of Sant Joan de Gràcia, in Barcelona, is a work by Gaudí, an idea defended by the biographer of the Catalan architect, Josep Maria Tarragona. This second edition has as a novelty the incorporation of the three-day session in Shanghai, which took place between the 21st and the 23rd of June, in collaboration with several Chinese universities of Tsinghua and with the support of the City of Shanghai. 

Barça turned up at Balaídos needing no reminding of the threat that Celta’s speedy attack could pose, having suffered a 4-1 defeat last time they were in town, but few could have expected what took place in the first half this time around. Despite a good start, warning signs of Celta’s growing attacking threat began to appear as the half grew on. And when Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s pass out to Sergio Busquets was a touch wide of the midfield man, Iago Aspas was more than happy to step in and play Pione Sisto through on goal, who made no mistake with a neat finish. A spirited second half display saw FC Barcelona so nearly stage an epic comeback against Celta Vigo, but it turned out to be another unhappy visit to Balaídos in a seven-goal thriller. Three rapid first-half goals from the hosts caught Barça off guard and, while Luis Enrique’s men twice rallied back to reduce the deficit to a solitary goal, they ultimately left empty-handed.

Barcelona battled back from a goal down and scored twice in the second half to beat hosts Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 in their Champions League Group C match on Wednesday. The victory is Barça’s second in as many games in the group stage. The Catalans continue to lead Group C, and have now scored nine goals and conceded just one in the two games combined. Despite the absence of the injured Lionel Messi, Arda Turan and Gerard Piqué gave the Catalans their second win in two group matches to top the standings, after their opening 7-0 demolition of Celtic. The late heroics snapped Borussia's 11-game home winning streak and gave goalkeeper Mark-André ter Stegen — who was facing the club where he spent his entire life, from age four until he joined Barça in the summer of 2014 — a homecoming to remember.

The representatives of pro-independence radical left CUP in Barcelona’s City Hall, CUP-Capgirem Barcelona, will ask for the removal of the iconic statue of Christopher Columbus, located at the end of the Rambla street, close to Barcelona’s port. They feel that the 60-metre-high monument, which was installed in the Catalan capital in 1888 to coincide with the Universal Exposition, “praises the conquest of America”. The three representatives from CUP-Capgirem Barcelona will suggest changing the Columbus monument for a memorial to the indigenous peoples of the Americas and the slaves brought to that continent, and their resistance in the face of “imperialism, oppression and segregation”. Liberal ‘Convergència’ have already opposed the removal of the monument and left wing pro-independence ERC said they will study CUP-Capgirem’s proposal, which will be discussed during a plenary session this Friday.