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Two superb first half goals from Xavi and Messi gave Barça the win in Seville, with an excellent performance – particularly in the first half-that’ll be a real morale boost for FC Barcelona.

‘The Clothed Maja’, ‘the Quitasol’, ‘the Puppet’ or the ‘Witches Flight’ are some of the canvases included in the largest retrospective exhibition on Goya organised in Barcelona in the last 35 years. Held at the Catalan capital’s CaixaForum, the exhibition ‘Goya. Lights and Shadows’ is organised by the social work foundation of the Catalan bank La Caixa and the Prado Museum. 96 pieces of the Aragon master’s work, including oil paintings, drawings and picture cards, will be on display for free until May 24th.

The FC Barcelona Captain, Carles Puyol, stated that Abidal is “in good spirits”. “He’s a strong person”, he added. “He showed strength last season and he’ll do it again now” insisted Puyol. Besides, the Barça captain doesn’t have a particular preference regarding the Champions League draw and playing against Real Madrid. Finally, he underlined that Guardiola’s decision on his contract renewal has to be respected.

FC Barcelona player will have a liver transplant in the next few weeks. Exactly a year ago, Abidal went through surgery to remove a tumour from his liver. The player recovered and was able to lift up the last Champions League title in Wembley.

Catalonia’s capital discovers the new Pati Llimona community and art centre, after two years of renovation and enlargement works. The centre shows 17 metres of the Roman wall circling the old Barcino, which are integrated in the building. It also displays the wall’s gate facing the sea. Excavations have also unveiled thermae from the 1st century AC, which are on display together with other remains. The new Pati Llimona will focus its cultural activity mainly on photography.

Barcelona was declared the Mobile World Capital last summer, and the organising city of the Mobile World Congress until at least 2018. Being the Mobile World Capital means that Barcelona aims to become one of the main world centres for the mobile industry. Furthermore, several projects will be based in the Catalan capital, such as a Mobile World Hub. A foundation has been created to promote these projects and attract investments. It is funded with € 30 million each from Barcelona City Council, the Catalan Government and the Spanish Government, and it is open to the private sector.

The Port of Barcelona has topped the European ranking of passenger numbers once again. 2,642,493 people passed through Barcelona Port in 2011, a 12.69% increase compared to the previous year. Barcelona is also the fifth port in the world, just behind the Floridian ports of Miami, Everglades and Canaveral, and the Mexican Cozumel.

Leo Messi was again on target against Racing de Santander, scoring both goals as Barça extended its winning run to six games with a 0-2 win. However, Real Madrid did also win against Betis and is still 10 points ahead, on top of the Spanish League.

Lionel Messi is the first player in the history of the Champions League to score five goals in one game. The Barça player has scored 29 goals in the European competition. Messi, despite his sublime display, was humble after the match: “The most important thing is that we won, that’s what we wanted.”

Five goals from a stratospheric Messi and two more from Tello crushed Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the Camp Nou, to qualify FC Barcelona for the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The 5 goals from Messi are an absolute record in the Champions League. Messi put Barça 2-0 up in the first half and completed his full-house in the closing stages, six minutes before Bayer Leverkusen scored their consolation goal in injury time. Two goals from the young Tello in the second half completed Barça’s score.

The Barça manager will not instruct his team to play defensively to protect the 1-3 lead they have over the Bayer Leverkusen. Guardiola admits that the Champions League “is a beautiful competition that allows us to take a break from the Spanish League”. On Piqué’s controversy related to the referees’ actions, Guardiola completely agrees with the FC Barcelona’s stance.

The enlargement of Barcelona Port, where Hutchison’s new container terminal will be located, was supposed to be linked by International-width standard railway to Central Europe and be better connected by road. However, the Spanish Minister for Transport and Public Works, Ana Pastor, announced that work cannot start this year; neither can she guarantee the provisional solution will be in place in June, when the new container terminal was supposed to start operating. Since the Spanish Government has not started the work, the technical studies have expired. “Hopefully they will be redone by the end of the year”, said Pastor.

The Brazilian FC Barcelona player reckons that Barça’s win against Sporting will strengthen their aim to: “keep on fighting until the last day of this league season”. “We won’t be giving the League away”, he stated. Adriano also talked about the Pique’s red card in the FC Barcelona vs Sporting de Gijón game and the news that the referees technical committee wants to take the centre half to the Spanish Federation’s disciplinary panel for his comments after the game. Adriano explained: “he and the ref were talking about it after the game and they cleared things up”.

Barça put in a gritty performance to see off an ultra defensive Sporting team despite playing most of the second half with ten men after Piqué was sent off. Late goals from Keita and Xavi sealed the win after Iniesta had opened the scoring in the first half.

The main trade fair on mobile phones and technology in the world brought together 11% more participants than the 2011 edition and more than 1,500 companies, including the main multinationals in the sector. Barcelona was declared the Mobile World Capital last summer and will organise this top international event until at least 2018. The 2012 congress had a direct economic impact of €300 million for the city and Catalonia’s economy. The CEO of the organising company, John Hoffman, said that the 2012 MWC “has been a success in all aspects”.