Hansi Flick had planned to go see Mago Pop's show on Sunday evening, but a technical problem "of force majeure" caused the Valles magician to suspend the performance. Consequently, the Barça coach was left with no other plan than to follow the Espanyol-Madrid game, in which only a white triumph prevented the mathematical achievement of his second League in two seasons on the blaugrana bench. Due to two goals from Vinícius, the celebration will be delayed by at least a week and will remain pending to achieve just one point out of the twelve available. The quickest way – and also the most pleasant – will be to get it this Sunday at the Camp Nou, in a classic that the culers will face with their belts loosened.

After a capital victory on the always charged field of Getafe (0-2), Hansi Flick gave his disciples three days off. The Barça coach has taken advantage of the break to spend a few days in Germany with his family. Dani Olmo, Joan Garcia and Eric Garcia have needed less warm clothing, deciding to rent a small boat and get wet in some corner of the Costa Brava. While his teammates enjoyed a well-deserved decompression time, Lamine Yamal began to focus on recovering from the first muscular injury he has suffered as a footballer. He suffered it shortly before halftime during Celta's visit to Camp Nou a week ago. He needed to be substituted just after converting the penalty that meant the goal of a tight victory (1-0). When he shot from eleven meters, he was already injured. The biceps femoris of his left leg had said enough at the moment he dribbled past Yoel Lago in the play that Munuera Montero punished with a penalty.

Hard-fought victory for Barça that could be worth a League (0-2). Fermín and Rashford resolve the paperwork in a well-contested clash in Getafe. Below, some immediate thoughts.

Three golden points for Barça in a match marked by Lamine Yamal's injury and a first half that lasted 67 minutes (1-0). La Liga, closer. Next, some immediate thoughts.

It has been more than a month since Camp Nou has been operating with the first two stands full. After uncomfortable tug-of-wars with technicians from the Barcelona City Council, Barça was able to implement phase 1C of the stadium's reopening to aim to accommodate a maximum of 62,000 people inside. The current season will end with this capacity, despite considerable progress in the construction of the third stand, which will house more than 40,000 spectators, reaching a capacity of 105,000.

It couldn't be. Here are some hot takes.

It wasn't meant to be. Barça, eliminated from the Champions League after falling just short of a comeback (1-2). Despite finishing with ten players, the Catalans pushed until the end. Here are some immediate thoughts.

The Camp Nou hosted a derby that ended with a blaugrana thrashing and half a League in the bag. The celebration on the pitch was justified, even if Pol Lozano and other Espanyol players didn't seem to agree. The culé players sang and jumped near the cheering stand, which has once again livened up the matches in the stadium after many months of punishment.

The starting eleven of Barça in the derby against Espanyol contrasted, and a lot, with what Atlético de Madrid presented against Sevilla. While the Blaugranas made some small rotations but maintained the backbone of the starting team, the Mattress makers made many rotations. This is how the story ended on the scoreboard: Barça won and left La Liga almost sealed; on the other hand, Atlético de Madrid lost in Seville. While it is true that Cholo Simeone had some notable absences, he took the Champions League into much greater account, aware that in the league tournament he has nothing left to fight for and that he prefers a starting eleven with fresh legs in the second leg of the quarter-finals.

Barça has La Liga within their grasp. In a very tough match against Atlético de Madrid, the Barcelona players secured three golden points that extend their lead over Real Madrid to seven in the standings with eight matchdays remaining. Here are some immediate thoughts.

Real Madrid projects an image of financial solidity that aligns with its results-based sporting DNA. However, if a detailed reading is made of the latest audited economic snapshot – at the midpoint of the 2025-26 financial year –, cracks are observed that call this narrative into question. Without denying its power as a global brand, on par with other football giants like Barça itself, PSG, or the Premier League titans, the institution led by Florentino Pérez has made available to its members documentation of 112 pages that raises some alarms.According to this latest update, the club presents a total liability of 1,780 million euros if the debt associated with the renovation of the Santiago Bernabéu is included, a stadium that is not yet finished and has requested three credit extensions so far. This is a significant magnitude that conditions Madrid's financial structure, although in comparison to Barça, which exceeds 2,500 million euros if ordinary gross debt and the credit operation to renovate the Camp Nou are added together, the absolute figure is lower than that of the Blaugrana.

Lamine Yamal has broken his silence over the Islamophobic chants this Tuesday at Cornellà-El Prat, on the occasion of a friendly between Spain and Egypt, with a publication on Instagram. "I know [the chants] were for the opposing team [Egypt], but as a Muslim person it is still a lack of respect and something intolerable [...]. To those who sing these things: using religion as a mockery leaves you as ignorant and racist people," wrote the Barça star and the main star of Luis de la Fuente's team. The footballer left the Espanyol stadium with his head down and without greeting the local fans.

Josep Maria Bartomeu (Barcelona, 1963) arrived at the presidency of Barça with the resignation of Sandro Rosell in 2014. A year later, and thanks to a treble, he would win the elections by a landslide. But he could not exhaust his term, a victim of poor sporting results and the economic crisis derived from the coronavirus. He resigned in October 2020. Five and a half years later, he attends to ARA after declining to be interviewed on several occasions. He presents himself at the newsroom with documents to defend his economic management.

Barça is once again a victim of the FIFA virus. Raphinha suffers an injury to the right thigh's femoral biceps and will be out for around five weeks, as confirmed by Barça after the medical tests carried out by the Brazilian national team. The player was withdrawn injured from the friendly he played on Thursday with Brazil after feeling a twinge in the back of his right leg and will return to Barcelona in the coming hours to begin his recovery. ARA had already reported that the footballer's initial sensations were not good at all and everything pointed to a muscle tear. The club is unhappy with the calendar for scheduling friendly matches at this point in the season when teams are fighting for titles.

In a few weeks it will be five years since Hansi Flick's surprising resignation from the Bayern Munich bench. In April 2021, just eight months after winning a treble – including a 2-8 victory over Messi's Barça – with the Bavarians, and despite having a contract secured until 2023, the coach announced he would not continue in the role due to deep disagreements with the club's sporting director, Hasan Salihamidzic, who made a series of decisions he did not like, such as not renewing Thiago Alcántara or Ivan Perisic.

Barça's hard-fought victory against Rayo Vallecano (1-0). The Catalans have made the most of Ronald Araujo's goal. In the first half, Joan Garcia had an inspired performance, preventing four certain goals from Iñigo Pérez's team. Here are some immediate observations.

Barça reached the Champions League quarterfinals in style. After a hard-fought first half, the Catalans steamrolled a Newcastle side that crumbled like ice cubes in a sensational second half (7-2). Here are some immediate observations.

Joan Laporta has won the Barça elections with an undeniable margin against the opposition candidate, Víctor Font. The Barça fans have spoken decisively. The victory is crystal clear. It rewards and legitimizes at the ballot box the work of a leader capable of merging his own ideology with that of the majority of Barça supporters. Good luck and success to the champion.

One of the highlights of the election campaign was the book launch This is how we saved BarçaWith the support of Josep Maria Fonalleras and Jordi Finestres, Joan Laporta He has published with Ara Llibres his experience after five volcanic years in office The president now seeks to retain his position at the polls in a head-to-head contest against Víctor Font. The Barcelona lawyer took office in 2021, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, with ordinary income at a minimum, a closed and aging Camp Nou, and a football team with unsustainable salaries given the economic climate. Five years later, Lamine Yamal, Pedri González, and Hansi Flick have helped offset the sadness of seeing Leo Messi in tears, the stadium has reopened amidst ongoing renovations, and revenue has returned to pre-pandemic levels. The club, therefore, is not at risk of disappearing. However, its financial situation continues to raise concerns and pose challenges for the future.

Former FC Barcelona president Enric Reyna has died in Barcelona at the age of 85. He led the club in the months leading up to the 2003 elections, in which Joan Laporta won the presidency for the first time. A businessman in the construction and hotel sectors, he was part of Joan Gaspart's board and led the club from February 13 to May 5, 2003, during one of the most turbulent periods in the club's recent history. After his resignation, and following the formation of an interim committee chaired by Joan Trayter, elections were held, which Reyna won against Joan Laporta for the first time. Born in Barcelona on May 15, 1940, Reyna became a Barça member on September 15, 1965. In 2000, Josep Lluís Núñez stepped down as Barça president and called early elections, which Gaspart won. Reyna, who considered himself a "good friend" of Gaspart, whom he had known for years through their hotel business, joined the Barça board of directors, although it wasn't until 2002 that he became first vice-president. By then, Barça was already immersed in a major economic and sporting crisis. Gaspart, who was beginning to feel pressure to resign, needed someone he could trust to take the reins of the club. Finally, he announced his resignation on February 12, 2003, and the following day Reyna became the 40th president in Barça's history. According to the statutes, he could have served until 2004. This was, in fact, his initial intention.