La Bomba Navarro is suffering from a recurrence of the plantar fasciitis that has been bothering the Catalan basketball player in recent months. Developments over the next few hours will determine whether Juan Carlos Navarro is able to play in the Euroleague semi final on Friday against Olympiakos. Boniface Ndong is receiving treatment for an intestinal virus.
FC Barcelona captain is full of optimism and courage ahead of his knee operation. Carles Puyol regrets missing the Spanish Cup Final and most probably the European Championships, but is just focussed on getting back to 100% fitness.
FC Barcelona was named ‘The World’s Club of the 1st Decade’ by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) this Monday evening. Barça won a total of seven awards during the IFFHS' World Football Gala, which took place in the W Hotel in Barcelona’s Barceloneta beach. Xavi, Messi and Guardiola also won awards.
Last Sunday Socialist candidate François Hollande won the French presidential elections. After 17 years of conservative government the French voted for change including the French community of Catalonia, which had the possibility to express itself in 19 polling stations set up all around Catalonia. Between the first round of voting -two weeks ago- and the second round, the rate of electoral participation in Catalonia increased from 37,5% to 42%. The Franco-Catalan community came out strongly in favour of the Socialist candidate, with 52.79 % for Hollande as against the figure of 42.21% who voted for Sarkozy.
The Summer X Games are expected to bring 140,000 people and generate an income of €70 million. The world’s most important action sports event, arranged by the U.S. sports broadcaster ESPN and ABC network, will be held in Catalonia’s capital between 2013 and 2015. Barcelona will host the Summer X Games, together with 5 other cities worldwide. The Summer X Games have championships in skateboarding, motocross, car rally and BMX.
Until June 3rd, the Joan Miró’s Foundation displays almost 200 photos that show Joaquim Gomis’ particular universe. Gomis innovated in the way of taking photos, which were more surrealist, and the places he photographed: cities, skyscrapers and industrial landscapes were his favorite subjects.
Barcelona City Council is concerned about being able to maintain the current public kindergarten model taking into account the budget cuts announced by the Catalan Government to reduce public spending. While in 2011 the Government contributed €1,600 per child, next year the quantity might be reduced to €1,000.
It was a triumphal send off for Pep Guardiola as Barça Manager, since FC Barcelona won their last game at the Camp Nou under his charge, beating Espanyol 4-0 thanks to four Messi goals.
The project, which aims to restore a historic viewing point of the city of Barcelona, was carried out by a group of Catalan architects in 2011. The prize is shared with the project to renovate the banks of the River Ljubljanica, in Ljubljana (Slovenia).
Despite initial fears of violent incidents the European Central Bank’s Governing Council meeting has been held peacefully. 8,000 police officers guarded the event by literally occupying the city. Besides, the ‘indignados’ movement demobilized their forces, and no anti-system protests took place.
The current FC Barcelona Manager, Pep Guardiola, will be sitting on the Camp Nou bench for the very last time on Saturday, but believes the derby with Espanyol is far more important than his farewell.
Thousands of students protested in Barcelona against the reduction in the university budget and the increase in tuition fees. The demonstration was peaceful and was observed by the police, in order to prevent any possible incidents, since it coincided with the European Central Bank Governing Council, being held in the Catalan capital.
The People's Republic of China is this year’s special guest at the 30th edition of the Barcelona International Comic Fair, which runs from May 3rd to 6th at the Fira de Barcelona. An exhibition will showcase the most important works in the history of Chinese comics. Furthermore, this edition is turning the spotlight on robots, dedicating its main exhibition both to entertaining and exploring the relationship between robots and comics, cinema and literature.
A goal from Puyol and a hat trick from Leo Messi, which served to take him past Gerd Muller’s previous record strikes in a European season, gave Guardiola, cheered all night by the crowd, another win at the Camp Nou. Two hours later, Real Madrid was winning the Spanish League title in San Mamés.
Coinciding with the European Central Bank Governing Council organised in Barcelona, the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, met with Mario Draghi and other members of the ECB Governing Council. Mas took the opportunity to explain to the ECB the Catalan Government’s austerity measures and its efforts to reduce Catalonia’s public deficit. He also spoke of his party’s support to all the reforms taken at Spanish level, despite being unpopular. However, Mas warned the ECB President that reducing the deficit too fast in the middle of an economic recession might worsen the crisis.