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Barça are close to the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey. The 4-0 from the first leg at the Camp Nou against Getafe give the Blaugrana quite a bit of breathing room this Thursday evening (22:00 CET) in Madrid. However, the tie isn’t over and Barça must secure passage to the next round of the competition at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez. Two experiences, in 2007 and this season, show how dangerous is Getafe in his own stadium. FC Barcelona’s Boss, Tata Martino, left Busquets, Jordi Alba and Iniesta out of the team. If Xavi Hernández. features this evening against Getafe, it will be the midfielder’s 700^th official match in the Blaugrana strip.

Referring to yesterday’s announcement, Carles Constante, the Director General for Regulation, Planning and Health Resources at the Catalan Ministry of Health, said that the Director of Barcelona’s Centre for Regenerative Medicine (CMRB), Juan Carlos Izpisúa had resigned due to the need for a more direct management. Constante explained that even though research centres now had a “high level of interconnection and ongoing dialogue”, they also needed “direction, management and a drive of energy within the centre itself, something that could be difficult to maintain from a distance”. Constante stressed that Izpisúa working from the United States for most of the time had been the main reason for him stepping down.

FC Barcelona have agreed to renew Marc Bartra’s contract until June 30, 2017. The defender will sign the new contract in the coming weeks and his buy-out clause will be set at 25 million euros. Bartra, who started playing in Barça’s youth academy in 2002, made his debut for the first team on February 14, 2010, away to Altético Madrid. From that point on he combined his first team work with his reserve team duties. He was promoted to the first team in the 2012/13 season. This year, Marc Bartra has progressively earned Tata Martino’s confidence thanks to his good performances on the pitch. He’s featured in 14 matches this season and he’s scored one goal. This year, Marc Bartra has progressively earned Tata Martino’s confidence thanks to his good performances on the pitch. He’s featured in 14 matches this season and he’s scored one goal.

The Director of Barcelona’s Centre for Regenerative Medicine (CMRB), world-famous scientist Juan Carlos Izpisúa, resigned due to the lack of financial and political support from both Spanish and Catalan Governments. Such news was first published by Spanish newspaper ‘El País’ and then confirmed by sources in the research centre. Internationally, Izpisúa is considered to be one of the most esteemed and learned scientists in the field of stem cells. With the Director stepping down, the CMRB could well lose most of its current projects. Indeed, 18 of the 21 projects are the intellectual property of Izpisúa and might no longer be carried out in the Barcelona-based research centre if Izpisúa quit.

In the coming weeks, the management of Volkswagen Group should decide where to produce its latest SUV model, designed in the SEAT Technical Centre in Martorell (Greater Barcelona) and featuring two versions, one for the Catalan brand and the other one for Skoda. The President of the SEAT Workers Committee in Martorell, Matias Carnero, argued that the Catalonia-based factory was the most competitive to produce the vehicle. These past weeks, some sources have asserted that Martorell’s main rival, the Skoda plant in the Czech Republic, would ultimately be chosen. Indeed, it is believed that the President of SEAT Jürgen Stackmann hinted at such a fact in several internal meetings. However, Matias Carnero insisted that the Martorell factory had never been completely ruled out.

Dani Alves, Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta and Leo Messi were yesterday named as part of the FIFA/FIFPro World XI 2013 - a team chosen by more than 50,000 players from around the globe. With four players in the side, Barça were once again the club with most representatives. FC Barcelona have been the team providing most players to the World XI for the last 8 years (though they shared that honour with Real Madrid in 2012, when both sides provided 5 players each). Leo Messi has appeared in each of the last 7 selections and Xavi in the last 6.

The “very moderate” growth expectations for 2014, between 0.5% and 1%, will make it “difficult” for the unemployment rates to fall below the current 27%. This was the conclusion of the 2014 Economic Report of Barcelona-based ESADE, one of the top business schools in the world. The main author of the report stressed that this “slow and costly” growth should contribute only in a “very reduced” way to creating new jobs in 2014. However, he also explained that the Labour Market Reform would have positive effects on employment levels in the medium and long term. The study indicates that consumption in 2014 will “remain restricted” due to the high unemployment rates and reduced wages.

The Barça forward, who has won the last four editions of the Ballon d'Or, finished second behind Cristiano Ronaldo and ahead of Frank Ribéry. Messi has finished in the top three for seven consecutive years and has won the last four editions of the prize. After the Gala, Leo Messi said, “it’s a pleasure to be here for a seventh consecutive year. It’s very nice.” When asked about Cristiano Ronaldo, he said: “before anything else I want to congratulate him. He had a great year and his emotion is very understandable.” The 26-year-old Argentinian garnered 24.72% of the vote, while Ronaldo got 27.99% and Ribéry got 23.36%. This is the highest vote percentage of any second-place finish since the FIFA World Player and Ballon d’Or were consolidated into one award.

A gripping game between the two league leaders ended without score. Martino saved Messi and Neymar for a second half that both sides had chances to win. Barça played serious, intense football throughout, trying to stay faithful to their possession and passing game, with Atlético Madrid concentrating on a more direct approach, with much reliance on counter attacks and dead ball situations.

Barcelona’s El Prat Airport has ended 2013 strongly to reach a new record of 35.2 million passengers, amounting to a 0.2% increase over the previous year in a context of economic crisis. According to figures released by the Spanish Airport Authority (AENA), in December 2013, 2.3 million passengers transited through El Prat, meaning 5.3% more than during the same month last year. On the other hand, Madrid’s Barajas Airport continues on a downward trend, with its yearly number of passengers dropping to 39.7 million, an 11% decrease. Girona Airport, the second largest in Catalonia, has registered negative figures for the fifth consecutive year. However, this latest decrease has been more moderate (-3.8 %) than during previous years and in 2013 it received 2.74 million passengers.

In 2013, in terms of occupancy rates, the town of Lloret de Mar (Costa Brava, north-eastern Catalonia), is the second tourist destination in Catalonia, behind Barcelona, and the fifth in Spain. According to data published by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE), Lloret de Mar registered 4,989,836 overnight stays during 2013. Foreign tourists were an overwhelming majority, accounting for 4,310,537 of these stays. Besides, between January and December, the town surpassed one million tourists, with a majority of foreign visitors, from France (203,400 people) , Germany (124,000), Russia (107,600) and the United Kingdom (84,800).

The last 20 years have brought us only three matches between Culés and Colchoneros in which Barça and Atlético were the top ranked teams in La Liga. In this particular situation, Atlético have the historic edge seeing that they won two of the three matches. This season Barça and Atlético are level on points, but the Blaugrana are on top due to their better goal average. In the 2012/13 season, when Barça, league leaders on 43 points, hosted Diego Simeone’s men (37 points) for round 16 of La Liga. Barça won 4-1, and Tito Vilanova’s team took a nine-point advantage over their most immediate pursuers. The Blaugrana went on to win the title after securing a record-breaking haul of 100 points.

Barcelona-based SEAT, which is part of the Volkswagen group, sold 355,000 vehicles last year, representing a 10.6% increase on 2012 figures. The Catalan brand has not sold so many cars since 2008. The SEAT Leon car model was the company’s strongest asset, with 102,000 cars purchased in 2013, which is a 44% sales increase on the previous year. SEAT’s President, Jürgen Stackmann, highlighted “the commercial impetus” that the company currently has, “especially in Europe, when in a market context of sales drop, SEAT is growing faster than its competitors”. In Western Europe, which is the brand’s main market, the Catalan company increased sales by 9.4%, selling 273,200, 23,500 more cars than in 2012.

Goals from Cesc (2) and Messi (2) crush Getafe in the first leg of the 1/16 round of the Spanish Cup (4-0). Tata Martino was spot on when he said Leo Messi had the look of an assassin before Wednesday evening’s match at the Camp Nou against Getafe. It took the Argentinian forward only 30 minutes to score a brace and edge Barça ever closer to the next round of the Copa del Rey. Before Barça can clinch passage to the quarter-finals of the competition, they will have to travel to the Spanish capital to face Atlético Madrid in La Liga.

The Camp Nou will host the first leg of the 1/8 round of the Copa del Rey. Leo Messi was named in the squad while Dani Alves, Marc Bartra and Xavi will be rested.Pinto will be in goal despite Valdés’ recovery and it’s probable that Puyol, Adriano and Sergi Roberto, all of whom were on the bench on Sunday, will be named in the starting eleven. Gerardo Martino, Barça’s Boss, said on Saturday that Leo Messi “has the eye of an assassin” since he returned from Argentina. The FC Barcelona forward, who missed the match against Elche, was given the medical all-clear to play on Tuesday and he could make an appearance this Wednesday evening (22.00 CET).