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It's been nearly 8 months since the last meeting between the two. Barça's main selection issue is at the heart of defence, whilst Madrid's is in the midfield. Madrid's last two wins have given them a big confidence boost ahead of the game. Speaking ahead of Saturday’s big game, coach Gerardo Martino admitted: “the game creates great excitement in me and determination to do things right and win the game”. According to Martino: “in order to have any chance of winning, Barça have to play well”,

The city of Barcelona will be the Guest of Honour at the 2014 Beijing Design Week (BJDW). This festival is one of the biggest cultural events in China and will be attended by three and a half millon visitors from all over the world. The news was announced on Thursday by Mayor of Barcelona Xavier Trias, Minister for Culture Ferran Mascarell and Director of the Ramon Llull Institute for Catalan Culture Àlex Susanna. The event is dedicated to Design, Architecture, Urbanism, and Contemporary Creation. Susanna insisted it was the most significant cultural project since Catalonia’s invitation to the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2007.

Aiming to control better the number of tourists visiting Antoni Gaudí’s famous Park Güell and to obtain revenue to pay for security and maintenance, a few months ago Barcelona City Council approved charging an entrance fee. Friday 25th will be the first day that visitors will have to pay for a ticket in order to access Gaudí’s monuments located in this park in the Catalan capital. The rest of the park will be open to the public as it used to be, without entrance fees. Up to Wednesday noon, 1,900 tickets had been sold for Friday, representing 23% of those available. In addition, the City Council delivered 25,000 cards for the park’s neighbours, in order to allow them access to the park’s entire area, including the zone where Gaudí’s monuments are located.

The Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, and the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, shook hands at the entrance of the Economic Forum of the Western Mediterranean. Mas wanted to welcome all the event’s participants since the forum is held in a Catalan Government building and is co-organised by the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), which is mostly funded by the Catalan Executive. However, in protest against the Spanish Government’s veto to authorise him to deliver a short welcoming speech, Mas did not stay to listen to Rajoy’s opening speech. Later today, in the Catalan Parliament’s government control session, Mas stated that “there are no protocol problems, but protocol impositions that generate problems”.

The most important Fish and Seafood Fair in Europe and Maghreb is taking place in Barcelona for the second time, although Brussels continues to be the fair’s main base. This year’s edition will be attended by 146 companies with the exhibition space increasing by 24%. The Director of the company organising the event, Diversity Business, stated she was “very proud of their commitment to Barcelona and was hoping they would share a very long future together”. By choosing Barcelona, a hub on the Mediterranean, the organisers are confident they can find new business opportunities, especially with the emerging countries. Even though seafood consumption has decreased in Spain, the country remains a leader in the European and world market.

Messi goal gives Barça a point in Milan and keeps them top of Group H. This Tuesday’s draw Leith the Catalans on seven points – two more than Milan- at the halfway point in the Group phase. Barça could have been four points ahead had they taken their chances towards the end of the first half, once Messi had equalised Robinho’s early opener.

Barça return to the San Siro Stadium this Tueasday evening (20.45 CET), four days before hosting Real Madrid at the Camp Nou within the Spanish League. FC Barcelona’s big week features two top-shelf matches, two classics of European football. This Tuesday match with Milan will pit two European football giants against each other in the group stage of the Champions League. The San Siro is a very well known stadium to the Barça players. It will be the Catalan team’s sixth visit to the stadium in five seasons (two against Inter and four against AC Milan). The most recent match at the San Siro took place last season, when the home team won by 2-0 in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League.

The acquisition of a parcel of land adjacent to Barça’s facilities in Sant Joan Despí (Greater Barcelona) will see the club’s training facilities, the ‘Ciutat Esportiva’ increase its size by 20%. FC Barcelona have bought a 26,811 m² estate immediately next to its current Masia and training fields, where Messi, Neymar, Iniesta and all the other Barça stars train on a regular basis. Currently, the parcel of land holds the tennis club ‘El Forn’. The cost of the acquisition amounts to €8,270,000, plus VAT, and it will be paid over a five-year period. FC Barcelona’s Director for the Economic and Strategic Area, Jordi Moix, will hold a press conference in the next few days to outline and explain the club’s purchase of the land.

Researchers of Barcelona-based Vall d’Hebron Hospital and Research Institute discovered some of the main causes of the Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, which were unknown before today. Vall d’Hebron’s study showed that a continuous exposure to feather pillows and duvets was one of the main causes of this illness as it favours the scarring of lung tissue. This disease provokes a progressive decline of lung function and leads to asphyxia because of the deterioration of the organ’s tissue. The study has been able to trace the diseases’ causes in half of the studied cases. Besides feather pillows and duvets, the persistent exposure to fungus and close contact with birds can also trigger the illness. The Catalan research allows for a new approach to the illness’ prevention and its diagnosis in the early stages. It also represents a completely new approach to this pathology in terms of treatment.

Missed chances mean Barça drop their first points of the season. Barça outplayed Osasuna, particularly in the second half when they had chances to finish off the game. The Catalans put an end to an eight game winning run, though 25 points from a possible 27 represents a great testimony to Tata Martino’s beginning at FC Barcelona. This week Barça face AC Milan and Real Madrid.

It’s good news all round today for FC Barcelona, with no fewer than four players returning from injury. Leo Messi, Javier Mascherano, Carles Puyol and Isaac Cuenca are all available for selection by Tata Martino after recovering from their respective injuries. With these four all back, Barça’s boss is now only missing Jordi Alba and Afellay through injury. The FC Barcelona captain, Carles Puyol, hasn’t played an official first team match since March 12, the night of the comeback against AC Milan (4-0). During this time, he has undergone arthroscopy for articular cleansing of his right knee and has also had a Baker’s cyst removed.

The Italian investment group has announced it will build and manage 3,000 of the 6,000 hotel rooms of the ‘BCN World’ mega resort, the competitor to Madrid’s Eurovegas that is being developed by Veremonte in Salou (Costa Daurada). The $6 billion entertainment resort will be located next to the beach and the PortAventura theme park, which is owned by Investindustrial. After a year of talks, the Italian company has finally decided to join the mega resort project, which will have casinos, hotels, convention centres, luxury shops, restaurants, golf courses and a beach club. The CEO of ‘BCN World’, Xavier Adserà, confirmed that the resort will begin building in the first half of 2014, employing 17,000 people. The hotel group Melià, shopping-mall company Value Retail and casino group Melco Crown Entertainment will build the first phase.

Barça are away to Pamplona to play with Osasuna on Saturday (8 pm CET). On Monday the Catalans go to Milan for the third match of the Champions League group stage, which is to be played on Tuesday. Milan game will come four days earlier than the clásico against Real Madrid, to be played on Saturday 26^th October at FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou.

On Saturday, Spain’s National Day, those opposing Catalan independence and defending Spain’s unity organised a large-scale demonstration in Barcelona. In absolute terms, the demonstration was far from gathering as many people as the Catalan independence demonstration a month ago or that of 2012. However, it was still a massive concentration of people, gathering around 30,000 people according to the local police, 105,000 according to the Spanish Government and 160,000 according to the organisers. The People’s Party and the anti-Catalan nationalism party Ciutadans (C’s) attended the demonstration. The organisers had been received on Thursday by the Presidents of the Catalan Government and Parliament.

The Catalan defender suffered an injury in the back of his left thigh in training. Jordi Alba was working his way back to fitness following a similar injury he picked up a month ago in his other leg. According to FC Barcelona’s doctors, the new injury will keep him out of action for approximately six weeks.