FC Barcelona celebrated their 22nd Spanish League title on Monday evening with a parade through the city centre. Together with Barça’s women team, who also won the league title, the players and coaching staff saluted more than a half million fans from open top buses through the claret and blue lined streets.
Tests carried out on Tuesday morning have revealed that the FC Barcelona player has a strained hamstring in his right leg. The Argentinean limped off in the second half at the Calderon on Sunday after noting a twinge in the area he had previously been injured in. Messi’s participation in future games will depend on his recovery process.
Barcelona hockey team RC Polo has won the third final play-off match 4-1 against Madrid-based Club de Campo this Sunday and has become Spanish league champion. In a hard fought final, RC Polo won the first match 3-5 in Madrid while Club de Campo came back by beating RC Polo in the second game 3-6 on Saturday.
Barça celebrated their latest league title with a well earned win at the Vicente Callderon, where the league’s third placed team and finalist in next week’s Cup final received the Champions with a guard of honour. After a pretty placid first half, Atletico went ahead, FC Barcelona switched to a three man defence and–reduced to 10 men by an injury to Messi – went for the jugular, scoring twice and showing all the pride and bravery that has helped to make them the league champions once again.
Barça have won their 22nd Spanish League title, their fourth in the last five years. Without counting the times FC Barcelona have won consecutive league titles, this is the first time that the Blaugrana have managed to win again the League after losing it the year prior. With four matches left on the schedule this year, Vilanova’s men claimed La Liga with 88 points (28 victories, 4 draws and 2 defeats).
On the occasion of the kick-off of the 2013 Barcelona International Motor Show, the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, and 3 ministers (Finance, Economy and Industry) visited Barcelona on Friday. They held several meetings with the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, and the Catalan Finance Minister, Andreu Mas-Colell. Mas and Rajoy talked for 20 minutes about Catalonia’s deficit target for 2013 and the budget for this year. Officially, they have not discussed the self-determination process. In addition, Mas also met with Luís De Guindos, Spain’s Minister for the Economy. Mas-Colell met with De Guindos and Cristóbal Montoro, the Spanish Finance Minister.
The Saló de l’Automòbil exhibition is the main meeting point for the automobile industry in Spain and will take place at the Montjuïc trade fair from May 9th to the 19th. 22 car brands and 32 premieres are announced: two worldwide, four European and 26 at Spanish level. The showing coincides with the Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya and the extreme sports event X Games of Barcelona, completing a motor week in the Catalan capital. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will kick off the Motor Show on Friday the 10th of May.
Two goals from Messi set up the fightback against Betis to leave Barça just two points off the Spanish League title. Tito Vilanova’s side came back from1-2 down at the break to beat Betis 4-2. Villa and the superb Messi, who had started on the bench – turned the result round to beat a brave Betis. The win means Barça are 11 points ahead of second place Real Madrid, with just four games remaining, Mourinho’s side play against Malaga on Wednesday in a game brought forward because of their involvement in the Spanish Cup final and if they fail to win, Barça will be champions.
Barça failed to make it to the 2013 Champions League final at Wembley this month – it’ll be an all German affair between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. Bayern confirmed on Wednesday night their place at the final, finishing 7-0 winners on aggregate after beating Barça 0-3 at the Camp Nou. Without the injured Leo Messi, Tito Vilanova’s side went for the fight back, but a Robben goal at the start of the second half ruined their hopes and settled the tie, with two more goals coming before the end - an own goal by Piqué and another from Müller- to confirm the first ever all-German Champions League final.
The initiative targets 10,000 young women, studying at university and wanting to start their own business, from Morocco, Palestine, Jordan and Spain. The 'Young Women as Job Creators' project aims to create 400 new businesses. It is an initiative by the Union for the Mediterranean – whose headquarters are based in Barcelona – and the Association of Organisations of Mediterranean Businesswomen (AFAEMME). The project will run from May to November 2013 and it will be based on workshops and courses taught in universities from the four countries involved. The initiative has a budget of €300,000, paid by the Government of Norway, the Catalan multinational Gas Natural Fenosa, the Union for the Mediterranean and the European Investment Bank.
The FC Barcelona Manager believes that his players need to go into tomorrow's match against Bayern Munich with cool heads: “we have to play a good game and be the better team, then the goals will come”. “We have to hold our heads high if we are eliminated, we cannot give up; we need to make our fans proud”, he said. “We have to be ourselves and try to play a good game of football. We need to score goals through our style of play”, Vilanova added. “If we are going to mount a comeback we need our fans at the Camp Nou”, he concluded.
The 15th edition of the International Short Film and Animation Festival of Barcelona, known as Mecal Pro, has ended after 350 short films were selected from over five thousand and were projected for a month. An increase in participation, the extension of the festival’s length and the importance given to the animation genre were the main features of this year’s edition. This year’s biggest winners were ‘El otro’ (‘The other’) by Jorge Dorado and ‘Misterio’ (‘Mistery’) by Chema García Ibarra. The FX Animation new award goes to the Dutch film ‘Junkyard’ and the best international short film award to ‘Solitudes’, by French director Liova Jedlicki.
Nadal has won the 61st Conde de Godó Trophy in front of his home crowd in the Reial Club de Tennis Barcelona for the eighth time. Despite a poor start, the Mallorcan beat Nicolás Almagro in two sets: 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and 32 minutes. The tournament was conditioned by the rain during the whole week and the final itself was almost suspended. Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares won in the doubles final against Robert Lindstedt and Daniel Nestor. It’s the eighth time that Nadal has won the Conde de Godó Trophy, an ATP World Series 500 tournament.
A last minute equaliser from Ander Herrera means FC Barcelona could not be mathematically proclaimed champions on Saturday evening. Barça’s last ever game in San Mames will be remembered as a real epic battle, played in the rain at a typically high tempo and with plenty of goals and chances. Susaeta opened the scoring in the first half and nearly got the second with a shot that rattled the woodwork. Barça turned the score around after the break when Messi came off the bench and in a three minute flurry the Argentinean and Alexis made it 1-2 and seemed to have ensured the points until Ander’s last minute effort.
Barça Manager gave his first official press conference since he returned to Barcelona from New York, where he received treatment for his illness. “There were problems due to the distance. But in New York, my day to day life was generally good, and I was able to keep in contact with the team thanks to new technologies”, he said. “If ever I get two days off, I don’t know what to do. This job is no burden to me and the doctors told me that the best thing I could do was to work”, he explained.