Taking advantage of a match against Manchester United, the Barça ticketing team became interested in the English club's business model at the Old Trafford stadium. At that time, Josep Maria Bartomeu was still in charge and the Camp Nou renovation project was being polished. The Blaugrana executives were surprised when they were explained the star product: it consisted of picking up the fan from the hotel, taking them by helicopter to the stadium, giving them a private tour, enjoying a luxury catering service at all times, and returning this spectator to the hotel, also by air, after the match. The price: 10,000 pounds. However, it only cost the club 2,000. The profit margin was extraordinary.

After the fight between Tchouaméni and Valverde that ended with the Uruguayan footballer in the hospital, some players approached Álvaro Arbeloa to recommend that he cancel Friday's training session at Valdebebas. But the Real Madrid coach, still surprised by what had just happened in the dressing room, decided to stick to the planned schedule.

The Real Madrid dressing room is on fire just days before visiting Barça's ground in a match where Hansi Flick's team can be crowned Liga champions. For the second consecutive day, Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni allegedly fought, to the point that their teammates had to separate them, and the Uruguayan ended up at the Valdebebas Hospital with a craniocerebral trauma that will keep him out of action for two weeks. It all allegedly started when Valverde refused to shake Tchouaméni's hand to make peace, as both had fought during Wednesday's training session, an incident that ended with punches and insults. But Valverde wanted nothing to do with the Frenchman, whom he accused of having explained the first fight to the press. The result was a very tense training session. Back in the dressing room, the two footballers allegedly exchanged more reproaches and fought again. As their teammates were separating them, the Uruguayan allegedly fell, hitting his head. Arbeloa allegedly accompanied him to the hospital, where he received a few stitches on his head.

Meeting the construction deadlines for the Camp Nou is no longer a matter of pride or a propaganda tool for Joan Laporta. Having convincingly won the elections, the president-elect does not need grand gestures towards the fanbase or populist measures to win their favor. The president's main concern is to ensure that the new stadium generates the promised revenue, and therefore, it is essential to finish it as soon as possible. However, all large-scale construction projects experience delays, and the blaugrana coliseum is no exception.

Barça started the season with the feeling that they had an excess of midfielders. So much so that the club, conditioned by the famous fair play financial, listened to several offers. One of the most succulent, the one Chelsea made for Fermín López, but which Barça rejected because they considered that the 50 million offered by the English were totally insufficient given the player's potential. More proposals arrived, also for Pablo Párez Gavira, Gavi. But in his case, Deco and company did not dedicate a single moment to valuing them. In short: he was not for sale.

Barça's financial fair play went up in smoke in 2020. With the pandemic and closed stadiums, revenues fell and the club was left with no capacity to pay player salaries. In 2021, with Joan Laporta in the box, the decision to tweak the numbers and load up to 555 million in losses onto the fiscal year that had started with Bartomeu as president, only aggravated the problem to the extreme. Five years later, and despite having activated levers, having fine-tuned the wage bill, and having closed low cost, the club is heading towards another summer with problems to face the transfer market normally.

Suffering, suffering much more than expected, but Bayern achieved the objective: to eliminate Real Madrid and qualify for the Champions League semi-finals (4-3, 6-4 on aggregate). Despite having a 1-2 from the first leg at the Bernabéu, the Bavarians needed a goal in the last minute from Luis Díaz, when the whites were playing with 10 men, and a goal from Olise in stoppage time to secure passage to the penultimate round of the competition. Madrid fell with honor, but fell, and is condemned to a second season without a trophy.

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.

Real Madrid dropped three golden points in Mallorca (2-1) in another poor game from Álvaro Arbeloa's team. A goal from Muriqi in stoppage time canceled out the equalizer the whites had achieved a few minutes earlier and left Barça with a clear path, who currently have a four-point lead and can extend it tonight if they beat Atlético de Madrid at the Metropolitano.

Beyond the embarrassment, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) faces a sanction from FIFA after the Islamophobic chants at the friendly match against Egypt in Cornellà-El Prat. The punishment ranges from a match for the senior team "with a limited number of spectators" and "a fine of at least 20,000 Swiss francs (21,600 euros)," according to regulations in cases of discriminatory chants in the stands. And it could even mean prohibiting "la roja" from playing at Espanyol's stadium again.

It is not expected that any director, executive or technician of Barça will openly admit to having made a mistake in the renovation of the Camp Nou. However, internally the club knows perfectly well that they made a mistake with the first tier and that a solution must be found imminently to fix the visibility problems. The provisional measure involves blocking the sale of the first rows of seats. But this is just a band-aid. That's why there is some urgency to correct the visibility problems that have become evident since the reopening.

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.

The summer of 1994 was a pivotal one for Camp Nou. Then-president Josep Lluís Núñez spearheaded a renovation project that eliminated the moat and lowered the pitch level. This freed up a significant number of rows in the lower tier, leading to an increase in club members and season ticket holders. One of those who secured a seat was Xavier Barniol, who is among the new faces on Joan Laporta's board. The businessman, accompanied by other residents of Berguedà, enjoyed a site visit to see the construction progress firsthand. in situ From where he would watch the football. Row 2 on the side seemed like an excellent option. Of course, it wasn't all rosy. Both he and the other new season ticket holders suffered a major disappointment in the first league match: an advertising hoarding had been installed that blocked a significant portion of the pitch.

The Camp Nou renovation works have become a mountain of uncertainties and broken promises. From the initial return date for the first occupancy permits, to the cost overruns of the renovation, and continuing with the construction of the roof. The only thing that is known for certain is that it must be finished by the summer of 2029 because the bid to host the Champions League final is serious.

Shaking bottles of cava and smoking a cigar at Luz de Gas: that's how Joan Laporta ended his election night after to renew the mandate in the presidency of BarçaA nod to the past, as if mocking the many criticisms he had received for his methods, but summarizing in images the happiest moments of a leader who, like everyone, has great successes and shortcomings, but above all, possesses something that makes him special: charisma. Nothing new, and the main asset of a short but intense election campaign. If in 2021 he was the favorite and won the elections convincingly, on Sunday he doubled down with a landslide victory that surprised even his own supporters.

It was enough to listen closely to confirm, in the morning, that Joan Laporta was all but certain to win re-election. At least, that's what the vast majority of club members leaving the Camp Nou polling station were telling the pollsters. Few candidates navigate crowds as effectively as Joan Laporta. Politicians included. The Barça president was making the most of his people skills on an election day that confirmed what many already suspected: he exudes irresistible magnetism and is a seasoned political operator. Following the Barça maxim of doing the important work early, the polling tent was already packed in the morning and remained a hive of activity until the football match kicked off at 4:15 p.m. It was surely the only moment of respite for the club staff manning the polling stations. The calm before the storm, because, after the match, the queues returned, a steady trickle until nine o'clock, the closing time of the polling stations that had been open for twelve hours.

The election campaign for the presidency of FC Barcelona has now ended. The day of reflection comes after candidates Joan Laporta and Víctor Font spent Friday carrying out their final campaign events to win over undecided voters. The promises, proposals, and projects now remain in the minds of the club's supporters, who will have to decide on Sunday whether to re-elect Laporta or opt for the change proposed by Font. The final day of the campaign served to deliver the last messages and tie the finishing touches to an intense month of events and commitments, culminating in a closing ceremony for each candidate. It was a way to honor and thank the numerous volunteers who supported the projects, from collecting signatures to providing logistical support for the presidential hopefuls. Joan Laporta chose La Pedrera for his final event. The president, seeking re-election, gave a nod to the centenary of Antoni Gaudí's death at a party that brought together 250 friends. To shouts of "President, president," Laporta indulged in one last bask in the adulation of the crowd, during which, as he admitted, he would eventually become emotional.

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.

The election campaign for the presidency of Barça ends at midnight tonight. Joan Laporta and Víctor Font will hold their respective closing events, in what will be their final attempts to win over members who are still undecided. They will likely be much more relaxed than they were on Thursday night, when Laporta and Font faced off on TV3 in the second and final debate before Sunday's election. There was anticipation to see how the two candidates would react, having already participated in a head-to-head debate on Monday – organized by the Godó Group. stilted, heated, and full of reproacheswhere mutual accusations overshadowed projects and proposals for the future. Thursday was more or less the same. Even with a bit more tension.