Dressed in street clothes, wearing a black blazer, sunglasses, and a cap, Raphinha stepped onto the Camp Nou pitch minutes before the Barça-Getafe match to collect the award accrediting him as the best footballer in La Liga for the month of September. A more than well-deserved prize thanks to a stunning start to the season in which he has scored twelve goals and provided three assists in the league tournament, and has netted two more goals in the Champions League. He received an ovation from his teammates and the fans before sitting in the stands to watch how, without him, the blaugrana football machine remains well-oiled and had no trouble defeating the Madrid side.

Barça has returned in form from the international break and has steamrolled a Getafe side that barely made it past midfield (3-0). The team remains switched on, with an offensive mindset, and is capable of winning even when rotating or missing key injured players. Below, some hot takes.

“Sometimes things happen just the opposite of how you had planned them”. That is how Marc Márquez summarized, with a mischievous smile, the chaotic Saturday at the Indonesian MotoGP Grand Prix. The rider from Cervera finished first in the sprint race, against all odds, overcoming a bumpy event and enjoying the luck of champions. Precisely, the luck that he lacked this Sunday, in which he could only manage sixth in the long race. A bad result, a priori, if it were not for the fact that he already saw it coming and, looking at the World Championship standings, the Catalan has minimized the damage in a weekend that did not invite optimism.

The remodeling of the Spotify Camp Nou has been a masterclass for many people who are not accustomed to architectural concepts. Few works of this magnitude, not even public ones, have had such exhaustive monitoring. Joan Laporta's board has experienced them with a mixture of passion and nervousness. At the club, they are perfectly aware of the importance of having a state-of-the-art stadium that is capable of giving a boost to the entity's income. At the same time, they know that the delays and cost overruns have strained the economy to the limit with a huge debt. For this reason, some decisions have been made by prioritizing the income statement over the recommendations of some architects. At the club, which has already been using the stadium again for almost a year –at 60% capacity–, and which will probably reopen the museum next month, they are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, although the last obstacle to claim victory is still missing.

The Barça museum was key to securing funding from Goldman Sachs for the remodeling of the Camp Nou. The 'blaugrana' club had anticipated that the work would serve to multiply the revenue of a facility that in 2019 received 1.7 million visitors and was by far the most frequented in Catalonia. But the financial firm was not entirely convinced. It did not understand how it could go from 40 million in annual turnover to the 80 projected. Many reports and market studies were needed to convince the American bankers that the projections were realistic.

At the 2019 assembly of delegates, Florentino Pérez argued for the purchase of CD Tacón as "the moment to build a team capable of competing and of which you can all feel proud." As of July 1, 2020, that Madrid club became Real Madrid Club de Fútbol Femenino and began to enjoy better facilities and an increasing budget that was supposed to catapult it to the elite. The reality is that, six seasons later, the team still cannot overshadow a Barça that continues to win everything. Sunday's 7-0 at the Camp Nou, with 40,000 fans in the stands despite the weather conditions, a balance of 25 Azulgrana victories and only one for Madrid, and the 99 goals for and 12 against are the perfect proof of this.

The classic of last season was very special. The Barça-Madrid match was played again at the Camp Nou after two years of exile in Montjuïc and, furthermore, the blue and garnet team could be proclaimed League champion. With a stadium still at 60% of its capacity, and with a club in need of income to repay the Goldman Sachs credit, the board saw a golden opportunity to make money. Despite the criticism from some members and fans who considered the prices abusive, 16.3 million euros were finally raised. Quite a turnover record.

The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has released Raphinha from the friendly he was scheduled to play in India this weekend. Medical tests have determined that the Barcelona forward does not suffer from any serious injury, only an "edema" in his thigh, but "as a precaution" he is leaving the national team and returning to Barcelona.

Barça's good sporting streak suggested a calm assembly of delegates for Joan Laporta, but neither the president nor the executives breathed completely easily until the fourth item on the agenda was approved. The social base authorized the expansion of the Espai Barça credit by 300 million and validated the issuance of bonds for an additional 210 million. Money that was essential to finish the remodeling of a Camp Nou that has ended up costing more and has also taken longer than expected.

After being turned down for years and years, Real Madrid managed to complete the signing of Kylian Mbappé in the summer of 2024. The French forward, one of the most prominent goalscorers in football, dreamed of winning the Champions League and landed in a team that a few months earlier had lifted thebig ears trophy for the 15th time. The combination of a winning club and a relentless goalscorer made people fear the worst. But, as things go in football, the invention stopped working. Except for the European Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup, the team came up empty-handed at the same time as Barça established itself as the team to beat.

José Mourinho's Real Madrid began the season with an agonizing victory on the field of Espanyol, in stoppage time. After two routs against Real Sociedad and Málaga, they suffered their first defeat on the field of Betis and struggled to beat Inter, by the minimum, in the Champions League debut. They returned to rout against Rayo, but later achieved a new triumph at the buzzer on the field of Elche, in stoppage time. Too many doubts against inferior rivals, both in individual quality and budget. Finally, against a top-level rival, they added the second defeat of the campaign in the derby on the field of Atlético de Madrid. Leaving aside the refereeing controversy, the numbers say that the white club is six points behind Barça in the League and has worse numbers than last season: Xabi Alonso had achieved 18 points. Mou has 15.

Marc Márquez arrived at the MotoGP in Austria as the World Championship leader and leaves with a 13-point deficit. Seen this way, it is bad news for the champion from Cervera. But taking into account how the weekend has gone, it feels like he already considers it a good result. Márquez was second in the sprint race and had to settle for fifth place in a long race where he was one step away from crashing. Jorge Martín is the new leader of the championship after a Grand Prix that saw Pedro Acosta's first victory in the premier class.

"Dear member, I am pleased to inform you that you have been designated as a delegate of FC Barcelona". This is how the email that a few thousand members received at the beginning of July begins. A few weeks later, they received a physical card in their home mailbox that corroborated their status, with a mandate until 2028, when they will be renewed again by lottery. This September 19, many made their debut in an assembly key to the future of the club: the delegates approved an increase of 300 million in the Camp Nou remodeling project.

A hat trick is achieved by that footballer who scores one goal with the right foot, one with the left, and one with the head. It is, nothing more and nothing less, what Raphinha achieved in Seville, where the Brazilian carried Barça on his back and led the comeback of a team that added its eighth victory in the eight matches played. A perfect start as well, even though the duel at the Sánchez-Pizjuán was, probably, the most demanding of those played so far (1-3).

Three decades later, the Camp Nou will once again host a Champions League final. UEFA has decided that the final of the top men's European competition will be held at the Blaugrana stadium in 2029. The decision was made by the UEFA executive committee, meeting this Tuesday in Thessaloniki (Greece). Along with the selection of the Culer temple, the organization has also chosen the Munich Football Arena (Allianz Arena, Bayern's home ground) for the 2028 Champions League final. Regarding the women's Champions League, the final will be played in 2028 at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais, in Lyon, and in 2029 at the National Stadium of Wales, in Cardiff.

Hansi Flick's third project began a month ago, when the World Cup semifinals still had to be played. Resigned, the German saw that he would have to do a good part of the preseason without the backbone of his team, since at that time up to ten players were still competing in the tournament in the United States and, therefore, would take a few weeks to return.

Rodrigo Hernández, Rodri, will be a Barça player. The blaugrana club reached a preliminary agreement this Sunday with Manchester City for the signing of the Madrid-born midfielder. The operation will be official during the week, once all the documentation has been drafted and signed. The intention is that Rodri, who will sign for four seasons, can be presented as early as Wednesday during the Joan Gamper Trophy, according to blaugrana sources.

Barça has left good feelings in the friendly match played in Basel, which they won 2-5. The important thing was not the score, but to see how the team reacted against an opponent who, although not of the highest footballing level, is more seasoned and took the match very seriously. Adeyemi, with a goal and an assist, was one of the protagonists of a match that also served for the young Bisiwu to debut with a brace.

Just as a few months ago Barcelonism celebrated the start of summer without restrictions in the fair play financial, the club is reaching the end of the transfer window with a degree of nervousness because it has not yet been able to complete the squad. The technical secretariat, led by Deco, has done its homework with departures and has fulfilled the coach's wishes by strengthening the wings. But there is still one position to cover, and not just any position: that of the center forward, which must be reinforced no matter what. The departures of Lewandowski and Ferran Torres mean losing forty goals compared to last season, and the figure rises to 54 if Rashford, who will not renew his loan, is also included. On the other hand, the arrival of Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi only brings 27, half, considering that neither of them is a specialist in the position of new.

Barça and Paris Saint-Germain have reached an agreement for the sale of Ferran Torres. The forward from Foios will change clubs this summer for a figure that will be around 50 million euros, according to confirmed Blaugrana sources. The agreement is total and will be official at the weekend, once all contracts have been drafted and signed. Thus, Ferran, who has already trained separately from his teammates these days, will be released from his obligations to the Blaugrana team and will take a plane to Paris in the coming hours to undergo a medical examination.