Deportes

The new Palau Blaugrana is excluded from the Espai Barça financing. Joan Laporta acknowledged for the first time during the Assembly that the 1.8 billion euros available to the club, the initial 1.5 billion plus the additional 300 million approved by the delegates, will be allocated to the Spotify Camp Nou and its adjacent facilities, but not to the construction of the pavilion. “The new Palau Blaugrana will not impact the financing of the Espai Barça,” explained the president.

The board of directors of Joan Laporta overwhelmingly passed the first two votes of the Ordinary General Assembly. Of the 4,597 convened delegate members, 609 voted in favor of the economic closure of the 2025-26 season, with 32 votes against and 23 blank. The budget for the 2026-27 season also passed, receiving even greater support, with 683 votes in favor, 43 against, and 27 blank. These two votes allowed the board to approve accounts that closed with 18 million in extraordinary losses and to greenlight a new budget that anticipates ending the current fiscal year with 19 million in profit.

The most conciliatory and proactive Laporta opened the ordinary general assembly held at the Auditori 1899, once again telematic, with a speech designed to convince. More than defending the management of his board, the president focused on the future and the need to obtain the support of the delegate members for economic decisions that he considers fundamental for the club’s future.

A year ago, Hansi Flick’s Barça rolled out the red carpet for Sevilla: they were defeated 4-1 at the Sánchez Pizjuán. It was October and the eighth matchday of the League. The team could not maintain either the top spot in the standings or their unbeaten status before the corresponding international break. It was a dream match for Sevilla and a nightmare for Flick’s team who, without the injured Joan Garcia, opted for Wojciech Szczesny in goal.

Dozens of Ceutíes gathered this Friday at the doors of the Autonomous Palace to welcome the president of Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, Florentino Pérez, who was received by the head of the local Executive, Juan Vivas.

Barça demonstrates a global strength and appeal that withstands practically everything. Although it has been more than a decade since reaching a Champions League final, it is the second football club with the highest revenue in the world… after the eternal rival, Real Madrid. In the last 2025-26 season, whose accounts will be voted on tomorrow by the assembly of shareholder members, it broke the record and surpassed the 1 billion euro mark by 60 million. The renewed agreement with Nike, the sponsorship of Camp Nou by Spotify, and merchandising are proof of that vigor.

Few people can explain the modern history of Barça as authoritatively as Carles Rexach. He has lived it from almost every angle. He was a youth academy player, a first team footballer for 17 seasons, a teammate of Johan Cruyff, a coach, an important figure in the construction of the Dream Team, and the man who played a decisive role in the arrival of Leo Messi. More than six decades around Barça, from Cruyff to Messi, are enough for many lives. And also, for a documentary.

Karim Adeyemi finished the match against Racing without scoring any of Barça’s seven goals. But that was the only thing he missed. Because few times can a footballer influence a match so much without finding the opponent’s goal. The German confirmed a tremendous performance, one of those that explain why Hansi Flick requested his signing. It is not easy to impress Camp Nou, accustomed to its stars delivering memorable nights. Adeyemi managed to enter that club and stole the heart of the blaugrana fans.

It was not A Night at the Opera, but it resembled it: a terrifying Es-Alert on mobile phones right at the start of the match –“just four drops!”, the spectators said instead of going home out of caution, civility, and responsibility–, tribute with family to the exemplary employee –the…

It was not the good performance of Güler and Diomande. Nor the slump in the second half of Real Madrid. Not even the saving goal for the Whites by Espí in added time. The most talked-about topic after the match at Martínez Valero, ended with Mourinho’s team winning, is the gesture before the game by Mbappé, Vinícius, and Konaté, who hid the message on the shirt in support of Ceuta. The Elche players and the rest of the Madrid starting eleven did join the cause. However, the two Frenchmen and the Brazilian entered the pitch with the fabric folded, so that the front part was not clearly visible, and quickly took off the shirt.