The Barça Manager isn’t resting any players with the Chelsea Champions League fixture in mind because “given our situation, the game with Levante is more important”. Guardiola believes they have to win at the Ciutat de València stadium because otherwise “we’ll have no chance of winning the League when we face Real Madrid”.
Goals from Alexis (2), Messi and Pedro have won Barça’s tenth game in a row at the Spanish League and put them just one point behind Real Madrid, who play the day after.
Aguirre, President of Madrid's regional government, asked to return healthcare, justice administration and education powers, which are managed by the Autonomous Communities, back to the Central Government. Prime Minister Rajoy, the leader of the People’s Party (PP) –Aguirre’s party–, stated that a debate about the Autonomous Community model is “out of the question”. Furthermore the PP’s Catalan leader defended the current model, as Catalonia “exerts its self-government as established in the Constitution”. Besides, the Catalan President told Aguirre to return the powers she does not want to manage, but to leave Catalonia aside. He added that the current model was designed “to dilute Catalonia and the Basque Country’s self-governance claims”.
Barça are aiming to record their 10th consecutive victory against Getafe within the Spanish League. If they do so, they will temporarily close to within one point the distance with the leader, waiting for Real Madrid’s result.
Goals from Puyol, Messi (2) and Pedro turned the game round for Barça at La Romareda stadium, after Zaragoza had taken an early lead. The three points take Guardiola’s team to just three points behind the Spanish League leaders, Real Madrid, at least until the day after.
This advisory body dependent on the Catalan Government affirms that two aspects of the Labour Reform Law, recently approved by the Spanish Government, go against the Spanish Constitution. Furthermore, the report also highlights three elements that invade the Catalan Government’s jurisdiction. The four Left-Wing Catalan parties that requested the assessment one month ago are pushing for the reform to be brought to the Constitutional Court. CiU, who runs the Catalan Government, hopes to modify these aspects through parliamentary negotiations.
FC Barcelona celebrated their 157th goal so far this season on Tuesday, which leaves Barça just one goal short of the record for a season under Guardiola, in the 2008/09 campaign. Messi, with 58 goals is the leading scorer, averaging 1.18 goals a game.
CiU stated that it will be “absurd” that they support the current budget proposal in the Spanish Parliament although they are open to negotiate and modify it. Furthermore, CiU “does not rule out the possibility of taking the Spanish Government to court” for ignoring the current legislation. The Socialists directly considered the budget proposal “to mistreat Catalonia”. The Green Socialists ask for a “common Catalan front” against the budget. The Catalan Independence parties (ERC and SI) say the budget plunders Catalonia. The anti-Catalan nationalists stated the budget wants to please Merkel. The only party supporting the budget was the PP, which runs the Spanish Government.
It is the first time since 2007 that unemployment has dropped in the month of March. In total, at the end of last month there were 638,247 people registered as unemployed in Catalonia. The number of unemployed people decreased throughout Catalonia, especially in Girona and Tarragona provinces. However, in Spain, unemployment increased by 38,769 people, reaching a total figure of 4,750,867 jobseekers.
The Spanish Government will not respect the territorial funding scheme, approved by the Spanish Parliament and in a referendum, as it will only invest 11% of its regional spending in Catalonia. According to the current legislation, in order to compensate for an historical lack of infrastructural investment in Catalonia recognised by the Spanish Parliament and the Constitutional Court, the Spanish Government must invest at least the equivalent of Catalonia’s economic weight within Spain, which represents 18.7% in 2012. Furthermore it does not include €1 billion pending from 2008 and 2009, to which Catalonia is legally entitled.
Barça have beaten Athletic Bilbao in an intense, lively game in which both sides played some exquisite football. But the home side enjoyed most of the possession and also the chances, and eventually won through thanks to goals from Iniesta and Messi (penalty).
FC Barcelona Manager, Pep Guardiola, foresees an intense Spanish League match against Athletic Bilbao, a team that he qualified as the “Sensation of Europe”. Guardiola recognises that all teams need days of recovery between matches, but he believes that Bielsa’s squad will give their all on Saturday at the Camp Nou, despite having played on Thursday.
The General Strike on March 29th ended without significant changes in the Spanish Government’s Labour Reform, but with a clear acknowledgement that there is growing social anger. The strike was unevenly supported in Catalonia. Unions talked about sector strike participation ranging between 97% and 57% and the Catalan Government about strike participations ranging between 24% and 10%. Minimum services worked as planned, without any significant incidents. Demonstrations took place in the main Catalan cities, with the largest in Barcelona. Isolated violent incidents were the only negative parts of what was a relatively calm day.
The Spanish Minister for the Economy, Luís de Guindos, announced in Barcelona the future creation of the so-called ‘hispanobonds’, common bonds issued by the Autonomous Communities and backed by the Spanish Treasury. The objective is to reduce high interests rates, and thus the financial costs that the Autonomous Communities have to pay when they turn towards financial markets to get liquidity. The Catalan Finance Minister proposed the original idea several few weeks ago.
The Argentine international just keeps on breaking all the record. This time he has beaten FC Barcelona record of 34 Spanish League goals in a season held by Brazilian striker Ronaldo since the 1996/97 season. Messi’s current tally stands at 35. He also equaled Philip Cocu’s record of 205 league appearances for Barça.