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Espanyol and Barça shared the points in the season’s first Catalan derby after FC Barcelona hit the woodwork on three occasions. Cesc Fàbregas opened the scoring within the first quarter of an hour and Alvaro hit a late equaliser. The draw leaves Barça five points behind Real Madrid in second spot.

Barça clearly defeated Osasuna in the first game of the new year, thanks to 2 goals each from Cesc and Messi. FC Barcelona are well on their way to going through to the quarter-finals of the Spanish Cup.

The International Federation of Football History & Statistics has named the FC Barcelona midfielder the best playmaker in the world for the fourth year in a row. Leo Messi and Andrés Iniesta are second and third behind Xavi.

Barça will play against Osasuna in the last 16 of the Spanish Cup, with the first leg at the Camp Nou on January 4th. The winner will play the quarter-finals against the winner of the Real Madrid - Malaga tie.

Pedro, Iniesta, Thiago (2), Xavi, Tello (2) and Cuenca (2), racked up nine goals – five before the break- as Barça charged into the last 16 of the Spanish Cup in the last game of 2011 at the Camp Nou.

Barcelona’s famous central artery and main tourist street will undergo a major transformation due to the degradation experienced over the last number of years. Barcelona City Council has decided to make Les Rambles an appealing location and presented an investment plan based on six main points. It aims to increase security and to make the street more pleasant to walk on. The plan has a €10 million budget and will be gradually implemented between 2012 and 2018.

La Masia, FC Barcelona’s football school, dominated Club World Cup. Barça won the final against Santos with 9 home grown players in starting line up. Three home grown players also the scorers: Messi, Xavi and Cesc Fàbregas.

Santos FC vs FC Barcelona: Barça becomes legendary after winning the FIFA Club World Cup. The Catalans were three up at half time after goals from Messi, Xavi and Cesc, with the Argentinean rounding the game off with a fourth after the break.

The away leg of the UEFA Champions League will be played in Germany on February 14th and the return leg will be played at the Camp Nou on March 7th. Ballack is the marquee player for Bayer Leverkusen, the team that finished second to Chelsea in Group E, beating out Valencia and Genk.

FC Barcelona vs Al-Sadd ended with goals from Adriano (2), Keita and Maxwell. The goals put an end to Qatari club Al-Sadd’s participation in the competition, and Barça will face Santos FC from Brazil in Sunday’s title decider. However, Barça’s striker David Villa broke his tibia and might be off for 4 to 5 months.

FC Barcelona's Manager, Josep Guardiola, stressed the pride that the team have in maintaining such a good level over three years and said that now, in the Club World Cup, Barça have to deserve to be in the Final against Santos, by playing well and winning. Guardiola admits that the Club World Cup is the title that he’s most excited to play for. "Getting here is very complicated, really, really difficult," he stressed. Guardiola was very direct and clear with his answer to the question about the Spanish sports newspaper Marca's leading cover story claiming Villa is for sale: "Marca is lying".

Catalonia is fast becoming an international reference point in research projects thanks mainly to a large number of articles being produced and exchange initiatives with other countries being set up. Catalan research centres, especially medical and technical institutions, have accomplished an important level of international recognition after a relatively short period of time.

12 of the 23 players that FC Barcelona have taken to Japan have never appeared in the competition before. However, Valdés, Puyol, Iniesta and Xavi are going for the third time. Before this Tuesday’s training session in Yokohama, Barça players and technical staff met with children from Fukushima, in solidarity with Japan and its nuclear accident.

Discouraging hotel occupancy rates and low commercial trade during this year’s Puríssima holiday clearly display the effects of the financial crisis in Catalonia and the whole of Spain. The Catalan tourism sector senses that a change has taken place in the profile of visitors to the territory. They generally come from nearby areas, look for offers on the Internet and wait until the last minute to make reservations.

Marvellous Barça performance against Real Madrid who went ahead within a minute but were overwhelmed by a superior FC Barcelona with goals from Alexis, Messi and Cesc. Barça switched to a three man defence after 15 minutes and are now back on top of the Spanish League, though Real Madrid do have a game in hand.