"Naval, 71, arrived at FC Barcelona in 1972 –more than 54 years ago– and began working as the first team delegate in the 1986-87 season. He has lived with a great number of coaches and players, and has become a true institution. Four decades alongside the team, sharing the dressing room, experiences and moments that are part of the club's history. And still today, he is a key piece in the dressing room". This is how the commemoration act of Carles Naval's 40 years as first team delegate was summarized on the Barça website. More than half a life at the service of the club of his loves and for as long as his strength continues.

Barça has faced this first international break, lasting more than two weeks (16 days) and with up to 17 players called up –now there are 15, with the return of Eric and Raphinha– by their countries, with "constant and fluid" communication. This is done between departments and, especially, with the Spanish national team, which has the largest group of Barça players, and with "specific plans for each footballer who has not traveled with the national teams," they explain to ARA from the Ciutat Esportiva.

As ARA has learned, Manel del Río will cease to be the CEO of Barça. The executive, who has already communicated his resignation to president Joan Laporta, will leave the position at the end of this month. This Monday, Del Río said goodbye to the club's management committee and confirmed that he was leaving the post. The position of CEO remains, for the moment, vacant. Sergio Serrano, who has held the financial directorship of the organization since this season, will assume a good part of the functions for the time being. Sources consulted at the 'blaugrana' club assure that the departure is "by mutual agreement" and value Del Río's "great work". "We are beginning a new financial management and a new stage," they state to this newspaper from Barça's executive offices.

The Spanish national team call-ups at the beginning of last season caused a previously unheard-of event at Barça: Hansi Flick raised his voice in a press conference and was seen to be frankly annoyed. The star from Rocafonda started the season conditioned by a pubalgia that was bothering him, and this generated friction between the Barcelona coach and his counterpart in the Spanish national team, Luis de la Fuente. On Saturday, September 13, 2025, in the preview of a Barça-Valencia match, Flick exploded: "[Lamine] went to the Spanish national team with discomfort. He played both matches, 73 and 79 minutes, even though the team was winning by a landslide, with painkillers. He didn't train but he played. I don't think that is the way to take care of the players. I am very sad".

He had not trained as a centre-forward, but before the friendly against Basel, on August 16th, Hansi Flick told Raphinha that he would play for a while as a striker. Barça had not yet completely thrown in the towel on signing Julián Álvarez, Gabriel Jesus was, at that time, only a remote opportunity and Hamza Abdelkarim was the sensation of the pre-season. Before the friendly against the Swiss, however, the German conveyed to Raphinha that he would play "first as a nine and then as a winger". This is how the footballer explained it in a recent interview on RAC1.

While Kylian Mbappé justified running and pressing less than Raphinha or Ousmane Dembélé because he scores "more goals" than them, Lamine Yamal, in a public appearance at the press conference prior to the Barça-Feyenoord Champions League match, or Karim Adeyemi, in an interview with this newspaper, stated that attackers must also run. "We all have to run. If you don't run, you don't win," said the winger from Rocafonda. "We know what we have to do, and if we do it all together we are, as I have said, unstoppable, both with the ball and without it. Hansi wants this from us, so we give it our all, also in the press," assessed the German sprinter.

Xavi Hernández will debut in style as the new head coach of the Netherlands. The Dutch team faces the German national team this Thursday (8:45 PM) in a duel corresponding to the first matchday of the UEFA Nations League group stage. The German team also introduces a new coach on the scene: Jürgen Klopp. This competition will serve as the testing ground for the coach from Terrassa in international football, with the 2028 European Championship as the first major litmus test for a Dutch side that seeks to return to playing a recognizable brand of football, with the school of Johan Cruyff and Rinus Michels as two of its greatest exponents, and to be competitive once again in major tournaments. "I want people to see a team with passion, ambition, intensity," Xavi stated in the pre-match press conference.

Hansi Flick explained to the press gathered at the training camp in Birmingham during the preseason that he did not expect to see his team performing at full capacity until after the international break, which will run from September 24th to October 6th. A summer marked by the World Cup, with more than a dozen blaugranas participating and up to eight playing until the final with the Spanish national team, as well as the arrival of new faces with the adaptation process that this implies, led the coach to express this concern. Mind you, he set a clear goal: to win the first eight matches until the break no matter what. On the verge of achieving the set goal, the blaugrana machinery is performing above expectations.

Barça has overcome Racing de Santander (7-2) with a scandalous rout and continues to count all its matches as victories: six in six matchdays. Below, some quick thoughts:

Karim Adeyemi (Munich, Germany, 2002) has quickly won over the Barcelona fans with his goals. Against Feyenoord, the fans chanted his name after he scored a screamer of the kind that makes you jump out of your seat. Against Levante, he scored the 2-4 when the team was having its worst moment. Today, against Racing (9:30 PM, DAZN) he is expected to start, although he states that Hansi Flick, the architect of his signing, keeps him engaged whether he starts or comes off the bench. Adeyemi also promises to learn Catalan and explains that, due to his origins in the Bavaria region, he has quickly grasped the uniqueness of the blaugrana fans and the people of Catalonia.

On Monday, in the lead-up to the Real Madrid - Inter Milan Champions League match, Kylian Mbappé was emphatic in stating that he considered he had done more to deserve it than anyone –"I have made history", he said– to take home the Ballon d'Or. The next day, much more cautious, Lamine Yamal stated, on the eve of the clash against Feyenoord, that winning it did not depend on him, despite considering that he had had a good enough season to receive the trophy, and that he does not plan to beg to take home the award that will be granted by the magazine France Footballon October 26th.

"Toni Gros is one of us". This is one of the messages that Barça shared on its social media for the Diada. It refers to Anthony Gordon, the English winger who has amazed Hansi Flick and all of Barcelona with only a handful of months in Barcelona. Already at his presentation, at the end of May, Gordon dared to say "I am very happy" in Catalan while signing some autographs for the fans who were asking him for goals. For the moment, the goals are still awaited, but he has already provided four assists in five matches, all four in La Liga, and has earned the affection of a good part of the fans, who chanted his name at the Camp Nou after the 5-2 thrashing against Rayo Vallecano a couple of matchdays ago.

Hansi Flick's Barça also knows how to suffer. In his third season in charge, the German coach has turned a tight-knit group of players who love and defend the badge as if their lives depended on every match into a team that never tires of winning, even when things get complicated, as has happened at the Ciutat de València. There is no small opponent, no road trip or schedule that is a chore. There are no excuses: only hunger and a desire to win and score goals. One after another. In the last three matches, the Blaugrana side has opened the scoring in less than five minutes. A Levante side driven by fans who never tired of cheering reminded the Blaugranes that sometimes you also have to suffer. A wonder goal by Karim Adeyemi, already in stoppage time, served to seal the fifth victory (2-4) in five matchdays when Barça was having its toughest time.

It is difficult to dissociate the name of water polo player Maica García, Olympic champion, from the club of her life: CN Sabadell. It is even more difficult to imagine the outcome that one of the most successful stories in this sport in Catalonia has had. The specialist in the center-forward position began to cry during her presentation with her new club, CN Sant Andreu, when she explained the ordeal she has experienced in recent months, which will lead to a lawsuit against the Vallès entity. García stated that, after more than thirty years at CN Sabadell, she was forced to leave the institution when the club did not renew her contract upon her becoming pregnant, as required by law.

Lamine Yamal has been the public spokesperson for the dressing room at the Champions League debut this Wednesday, against Feyenoord, at the Camp Nou (6:45 PM, Movistar). The Blaugrana star has said that the Champions League is his great motivation because it is the only title that, at 19 years old, he has not yet won.

Hansi Flick left Mestalla with a smile from ear to ear. The German coach was satisfied because his team put in a "fantastic performance at Mestalla." He emphasized this during the post-match press conference. The Blaugrana steamroller demolished (0-5) a disgraced Valencia in the midst of a social and sporting crisis. Flick celebrated that his pupils balanced "control with verticality." Barça dominated possession overwhelmingly (27%-73%) in the debut of the pair formed by Pedri and Rodri, which worked delightfully. As for verticality, it is explained by the constant runs of Raphinha, Gordon, and Fermín, and the finishing precision of Lamine Yamal, who prefers to receive the ball at his feet.

Gabriel Jesus is the big news for the visit to a struggling Valencia at Mestalla (4:15 PM, Movistar) in a squad list that also sees the return of Gavi, who had missed the last two matches due to injury. The expectation is that the Brazilian could make his debut with Barça in the second half. This was detailed by Hansi Flick in the press conference, where he said he was satisfied with how the former Arsenal player had trained, even though he is not yet at 100%. Jesus landed in Barcelona on Monday, was presented on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, since the team had the day off, he trained alone. On Thursday he took part in part of the training with the group, and on Friday and Saturday – with a lower workload because it was the day before the match – he did complete both full sessions with his teammates. His compatriot Raphinha is acting as his master of ceremonies. He also knows Cancelo, Rodri, and Eric Garcia from his time at City.

Barça has closed a demanding transfer market with a good grade. Demanding, because at the end of this season the club will have to return to Montjuïc, where it will stay for at least six months until the roof of the new Camp Nou is finished, and this means that income will drop again: it will be necessary to assume the rent of the Olympic Stadium once more and income from ticketing will fall. In conclusion: it will return to being outside the 1:1 rule and difficulties in signing and registering players will return. This has turned the summer market —with the extension of the winter market— into a decisive transfer window for this season and the next.

Barça has already debuted three of the five signings confirmed this summer in La Liga. Anthony Gordon, Karim Adeyemi, and Rodri Hernández already know what it's like to compete at the Camp Nou. On the other hand, on the last day of the transfer market, the final arrivals had to be finalized - registered. On one hand, Gabriel Jesus, who was presented after signing a contract that will ultimately be for three seasons, until 2029, and not two plus an optional one. And, on the other, Dominik Livakovic. Both were registered at night: the Brazilian with the number 9 and the Croatian with the number 25.

"After this time that has passed since the [World Cup] final, after thinking about it a lot, I want to announce to you all that I am retiring from the national team…", announced Leo Messi in an emotional letter on his personal Instagram account. After two decades defending the colors of thealbiceleste, the Argentine star says enough at 39 years old. The complete letter continues as follows: