A giant step forward for the professionalisation of women's football. After months of negotiations, Luis Rubiales, president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), will announce this Tuesday salary equality between the women's and men's national teams, retroactively. Spain thus takes another step forward in the recognition of its players, who are candidates to win the European Championship which will be held in July in the United Kingdom.

The Camp Nou will fill up again on April 22. After registering a new world record for attendance for the quarter-final match against Real Madrid Barça has decided to reopen the gates of the Camp Nou for the semi-final match against Wolsfburg on the eve of Sant Jordi. Tickets went on sale at midday on Monday and, in the first nine hours – with access only for members – 50,000 units were booked. This Tuesday tickets went on sale for all fans. The virtual queues were very long – up to 15,000 people.

The Versailles Regional Police have arrested PSG player Aminata Diallo as the alleged organiser of the serious attack suffered by her teammate Kheira Hamraoui last Thursday. Diallo allegedly hired two thugs to assault the former Barça player on her way home from a dinner with the squad. Hamraoui suffered serious injuries that forced her to be admitted to Poissy hospital, where she received stitches on her hands and legs.

Ronald Koeman entered the press room of the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper with reading glasses and serious expression. He does not usually carry them when he speaks to the press. But in the run-up to the game against Cádiz, the Dutch coach decided not to take any questions from journalists and read a statement in which he asked for time to continue working. The speech surprised the Barça directors, as much for the fact itself as for his words: he came to say that winning the Champions League is a utopia and that if the team finishes in the top four in La Liga, the season can be considered good. A speech far removed from those usually made by Joan Laporta, who was aware of Koeman's decision just a few minutes before. Despite the fact that in circles close to the president the tone of the message was defined as "defeatist", Koeman's presence on the bench at the Cádiz stadium is guaranteed. However, if he loses at Mirandilla as he did last year, he may not make it to Sunday's game against Levante.

Ronald Koeman has not bitten his tongue in the press conference prior to the clash against Athletic Bilbao (10pm, Movistar LaLiga) on Saturday. The Dutch coach has wanted to give a warning to Ilaix Moriba, who still has his future to decide on, while announcing that he will give Pedri a two-week holiday to recover his strength after being the player who played the most games last season, including the European Championship and the Olympic Games in Tokyo. "We have been thinking for a while that it is the best for Pedri and we have decided that tomorrow he will play. But then he will have two weeks off. That way we won't go into November or December with physical problems. Pedri needs a holiday. It's impossible to endure all the minutes he has played during the season, the two tournaments in the summer. He has to rest at least two weeks", admitted the coach.

The war in Afghanistan has shattered many hopes. Thousands of people, over the years, have been forced to leave home, to leave their family and friends behind to save their lives. Many have chosen Europe as their destination, not knowing what the future holds, with the dream of finding safety. The road that awaits them will be hard, costly and uncertain. Some don't make it anywhere, others are forced to return to their country and some do find a way to start again. The latter is the case of Nadia Nadim, Danish national team player and former PSG and Manchester City player.

The first league season without Messi wearing the blaugrana shirt begins. After the journey of the last few weeks and the departure of the Argentine to PSG, it is time to start a new era. "There has been a lot of talk about Messi and it's normal. He is the best player in the world, he has shown for many years in this club his effectiveness, the quality to win titles... We won't have him with us anymore, but we have other players and a very strong squad", Ronald Koeman acknowledged in the press conference prior to Sunday's match against Real Sociedad (8pm, Movistar LaLiga).

"Women do better in sports, because the progression is better". It's that clear. For Jaume Nualart, this conclusion is clear after carrying out a study on the evolution of world records in athletics. "If we look at the progression, in most disciplines women have lowered their records more than men. Sometimes even twice as much", analyses Nualart, PhD, researcher and teacher. Despite entering the Olympic world much later, women have managed to improve their records dramatically. They have practically cut twice as many seconds off the stopwatch in half the time. At the Olympic Games in Tokyo, where athletics has just begun, the marks are trembling before the great athletes, both men and women, who have their sights set on setting a new milestone.

There were 10 minutes to go in the final and the Barça players, on the bench, were already changing into their blue and red jerseys. Like Cruyff's players in 1992 at Wembley, Lluís Cortés's players wanted to lif the club's first women's Champions League dressed in their colours. On a historic night, which will be remembered for years to come as it will inspire generations, Barça overwhelmed their opponents. They had a chance to make history, and it did not go to waste. With exquisite football, Barça steamrolled Chelsea (0-4), winning their first Champions League title in a match which was very similar to the last final they played. In this case, however, Barça went from victims to executioners.

The road has been long and arduous. Lluís Cortés' players and the entire Barça staff have made many sacrifices and efforts to be in Göteborg (Sweden). This Sunday's Champions League final (21:00, Barça TV, Tv3 and Gol), in which the blaugranas will face Chelsea at the Gamla Ullevi stadium, is the perfect scenario to redeem themselves for the painful defeat two years ago in the final in Budapest. That day was a turning point for the blaugranas and, thanks to a change of heart, tomorrow they can become European champions for the first time in their history.

Nobody said it would be easy, but Barça are already in the Champions League final. With the warmth of their fans, Lluís Cortés' team have suffered to seal their passage to their second European final in their history. Two goals from Lieke Martens validated the draw in Paris (1-1) and the good team play has taken the blaugranas to the final on 16 May where they will meet Chelsea, after the English team came from behind against Bayern Munich.

Machismo is still a scourge present day by day in society in general and also in the world of the sport. In spite of the advances achieved in recent years, there are still people who are obstinate in diminishing the women who dedicate themselves to it. The latest example of this is Misa Rodriguez, Real Madrid goalkeeper and international goalkeeper for the Spanish national team. During Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final between Real Madrid and Liverpool, the goalkeeper, after Marco Asensio's 2-0 goal, posted two images on Twitter - one of Asensio and one of herself - in which they were celebrating a goal in the same way, and wrote: "The same passion". In response to her tweet, dozens of users - anonymous and under pseudonyms - insulted and abused the Madrid player with sexist and sexual comments, until she ended up deleting the tweet.

This Sunday's elections are probably the most emotional - and least rational - to date. Barça members value projects not only for the roadmaps presented, but also for the excitement they arouse. And, in addition to the decisions to recover the club's economic stability, the sporting sphere is the one that most worries the Barça fan. In the more than four months that we have been campaigning - counting the pre-campaign and taking into account the postponement of the elections - many different issues have marked the agenda: transfers, appointments, organisational charts... It is a reality that women's sport, which has had some space in this debate, and the ARA, in this final stretch, has wanted to contrast the proposals with those responsible for each candidacy.

The epic accompanies Victor Orta wherever he goes (Madrid, 1978). The Leeds United Director of Football - and Monchi's right-hand man for seven seasons in the golden age of the Sevilla - found in the English team the opportunity to make history. After rebuilding the club's policy from the ground up with the clear objective of reaching the Premiership, the signing of Marcelo Bielsa as coach propelled the whites into the English Premier League. Orta talks to the ARA about his Leeds (11th on the table) and also gives an overview of the transfer market after Brexit and the possible arrival of Messi at Manchester City.