FC Barcelona players pick up new Audi cars

The Club's Premium Partner handed out new cars for the 2013/14 season to the squad players and coach Tata Martino The team took part in the Audi Mind Race - a race between miniature cars driven by concentrating the mind

Audi, the FC Barcelona Premium Partner handed out new cars to the squad for the 2013/14 season. Before the handover, in the Auditori 1899,the players took part in an activity that called on them to use their minds TheAudi Mind Race is a technological challenge, which features miniature cars which the players moved through their own mind, as the energy generated by the players' brains powered the vehicles.
The activity, which is part of the Responsabilitat Social Corporativa Attitudes, also involved 24 girls and boys aged between 8 and 10 who won a draw held amongst members and their children. After three rounds, the fastest "drivers" fought out the final, which was finally won by Isaac Cuenca.Sporting Vice-President Josep Maria Bartomeu, board member Eduard Coll and sporting directorAndoni Zubizarreta were also present at the handover of the vehicles, whilst for Audi, the director of Audi Espanya, Guillermo Fadda and the President of Volkswagen – Audi Espanya, Ludger Fretzen

FC Cartagena – FC Barcelona, the Cup starts here!

• 
  
  
  Neymar celebrates a goal / PHOTO: MIGUEL RUIZ-FCB
  Gerardo Martino's side open their Spanish Cup campaign tonight when they face third tier Cartegena at 22.00. Although Cartegena are on paper the underdogs, Barça will be aware that any slip up could cost them dear and teh boss himself insisted yesterday: “it's a very important game" and coming on the back of defeats in Amsterdam and Bilbao, teh team need to get back to winning ways.
  With 15 players travelling to Cartegena - including Adama and Dongou from Barça B - Martino has rested Piqué, whilst both Xavi and Iniesta have picked up knocks and are also left behind. On the plus side, Puyol and Jordi Alba - injured since September - both return to the squad.
  The third diviion utfit may well be minnows compared to Barça, but they are enjoying a good start to the season, sitting third in Group IV and with just one defeat in eight games played at home so far this year - winning all the rest. Striker   Fernando, with 9 goals, is the principal reference point for a side who have beaten  Guadalajara, Huesca and Tudelano to get this far in the Cup and are determined to pull off a famous giant killing result - in the first leg at least!
  Changes in the squad
  FC Cartagena strong at home

Mandela's departure .. Leader who knew the value of sport in politics and unite people

■ ■ we announce the death yesterday leader struggling South African Nelson Mandela at the age exceeded 95 years yesterday after the hallmarks of a great play by a historical role in the liberation of his country and end the apartheid regime in South Africa , both the resistance and the armed struggle and who was because of the death long in prison for 27 years , or in the leadership of political resistance and popular until the regime was overthrown in this ugly , to lead the country into a new era of reconciliation , tolerance and eliminate the effects of hatred and intolerance for color and sex discrimination and hateful by skin color.

■ ■ was Mandela's " charisma " tyrant dominated by the wisdom and humanity and the spirit of tolerance , and knew the value of sport and its role in uniting the people of all sects and away from racism by hosting the World Championship Rugby in 1995 and was the sport eggs , who they considered by terrorists , but they respected his sympathy with them, and his special interest in the tournament Vhtfoa his stadium when he attended the final, and a year later organized South Africa 's African Nations Cup Sport blacks and repeat the presence and interest in and won his title and increased interdependence and unite blacks and whites , and remained exploits sports victories in order to achieve this goal .

■ ■ In 1998, when I visited South Africa, which was the governing African Games and attended the opening of the main cabin in the presence of President Mbeki , who succeeded Mandela after the end of his sentence , was amazed at the lack of " Almadeba " or mayor , according to the local dialect for the opening ceremony , and I knew that the man who ended formal role in the political life , did not wish to steal the limelight or compete with the new president , despite his popularity , which lasted until his death .

■ ■ and a few years later , playing Mandela himself played a key role in the promotion and tie-down to win his country to organize the World Cup football in 2010 , and came thanks to him this tournament major for the first time for the African continent , and has been a shift in a civilized , cultural and economic to his country.

■ ■ remained Mandela, a symbol of the values ​​of the struggle and the struggle for freedom, justice and equality and resilience in order to achieve this , and believed that tolerance and reform and forget the past is the best way to unite the nation and earned the love and respect and appreciation of his country's people and the peoples of the world.

Finally .. Messi returns to Barcelona training

Returned to the Barcelona striker Lionel Messi reigning Primera Liga football to his team 's training session on Monday in the context of recovering from injury at the top of the thigh strain suffered during a match last month.

Messi missed the best player in the world for a variety Argentina that have already secured their place in the World Cup finals in Brazil in Peru match last Friday and will not be locked in her match against Uruguay on Tuesday and stayed in Barcelona for treatment.

Barcelona will play in the league away to Osasuna on Saturday.

Barcelona said on its Web site today, " a line Barcelona's Argentine striker another step in the journey of recovery. "

The day of the scandal Lampard: hot kiss with his girlfriend (+18)

Sanchez in a message to Isco via Twitter: O do not forget to wear dwarf new protectors for rod

Isco regained Real Madrid player Isco Alarcón memories with his former club Malaga who will face next Saturday in the Spanish league football ninth round of the competition and life in the banter between him and House Andalusian club defender Sergio Sanchez on the network ( Twitter) social .

Sanchez wrote on his account (Twitter) accompanied by a picture of him and Isco when he was a player in Malaga " Oh do not forget to wear dwarf new protectors for next Saturday rod ", in reference joked that he would not tolerate him in his defensive duties .

Retorted Isco words, "Why do you basically did not succeed in catching up to me? " He replied, it Sanchez Bngradh other books in which " no one can catch up to you , O goat , so I advise you to wear a condom , because we are more or less we will stop you ."

Real Madrid seeks third-placed to win over Malaga in the ninth round Ballija to prevent the widening of the gap with Barcelona and Atletico Madrid leaderboards for more than five points.

FC Barcelona Foundation and the IOC agree to deploy 'FutbolNet' in Africa

This is the first ever agreement between the IOC and a sports club's foundation 

The agreement will lead to the creation of the 'Olympafrica FutbolNet Cup', a series of tournaments for youngsters which will be held in over 23 African countries
FC Barcelona President Sandro Rosell met with Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), this Wednesday afternoon in Lausanne, Switzerland, to sign an agreement between the IOC and the FC Barcelona Foundation. Ramon Pont, vice-president of the Foundation, was also in attendance.  

Groundbreaking agreement based on FutbolNet

This is the first time the IOC have signed an agreement with a sports club’s foundation. The project will the lay the groundwork for the ‘Olympafrica FutbolNet Cup,’ a group of tournaments in African for children between the ages of 12 and 15. The Olympafrica FutbolNet Cup will be based on FC Barcelona Foundation’s FutbolNet project, which aims to instill and encourage positive values through football. 

These tournaments will be hosted at Oympafrica International Foundation’s 26 centers, which span 23 countries, and will kick off in 2013. The organisation, which was founded by the IOC, works to spread the olympic spirit throughout the continent and encourage social development through sport. 

Rosell: “We are grateful to the IOC for the confidence that they’ve shown in the Foundation”

President Sandro Rosell thanked the International Olympic Committee and its president, Jacques Rogge, for “the confidence shown in the FC Barcelona Foundation to carry out this project. It’s a great honour for our Club to be able to contribute and encourage the values of sport.”

Rogge stated that the alliance with the FC Barcelona Foundation will “give many children of many African countries, and their communities, the chance to practice sport in order to strengthen and improve human development. I would like to thank the FC Barcelona Foundation for their support and for their willingness to share their valuable experience in this regard.”

The project will reach 78,000 children 

Each ‘Olympafrica FutbolNet Cup’ tournament will host approximately 3,000 children, which means that the overall project will reach approximately 78,000 children.

During the month of May there will be two workshops, one in Barcelona and another in Burundi, where ‘Olympafrica FutbolNet Cup’ organisers will learn the methodology employed by FutbolNet. Additional workshops are scheduled to take place in June. 

The project will be deployed in the following countries: Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Lesotho, Eritrea, Seychelles, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Guinea Bissau, Swaziland, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Mauritius, Senegal, Niger, Cameroon, Tanzania, Chad, Mail, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

FutbolNet’s methodology

The methodology of FC Barcelona Foundation’s FutbolNet aims to educate children through positive values derived from playing football. 

The football employed in FutbolNet has some very special rules, as the goal is not to win but to learn the following concepts: commitment, respect, tolerance, team work, responsibility and effort. For example, there is no referee, but a ‘teamer’, a moderator whose purpose is to guide the game. Also, the winning team isn’t the one with the most goals; rather, the winners are the ones who best applied the values of the sport to the game. 

FutbolNet sessions are divided up into three distinct sections: a discussion before the match where participants decide on the rules and which concept should be worked; a football match, and then a post-match discussion where the behaviour of the participants is evaluated. It’s important to note that the dialogue becomes part of the game and not a supplement to it. 

The Foundation has applied this project to over 20 locations in Catalonia and in Brazil, Oman, Qatar and Iraq

Eusebio: “We could have scored more in the first half”

The Barça B manager declared that his team were the better side in the first half and that "we are pleased that we qualified for the final"
Barça B did away with Nastic Tarragona in the semi-final of the Catalan Cup (0-1) this evening. It was amatch dominated by the Blaugrana in the first half, but the home team nearly battled back in the second. “We played well in the first half. We controlled the match well and we created chances. We scored a goal and we could have score more. The second half was more equal and neither side managed to dominate. There weren’t too many chances in the second half and we conserved our lead in the final stretch of the game, we were looking to score from counterattacks,” said Eusebio Sacristán, Barça B’s manager. 

The manager went on to say “we’re satisfied that we made it to the final” and he believes that “we represented Barça with pride and a lot of motivation.”

Praise for the youngsters 

When asked about Samper and Adama, two U-18 players who played against Nastic, Eusebio said that they both had good performances: “They are two youngsters who have good qualities. We wanted to see how they would compete in the next age group. Today they played against a professional team and they did a good job. Games like today’s allow us to evaluate and make decisions about the upcoming season.”

Nàstic Tarragona-Barça B: The reserve side prove they are up to the challenge (0-1)

Barça B defeated Nastic in the semi-finals of the Catalan Cup thanks to a strike from Lombán

A very serious Barça B were up to the task in the semi-final of the Catalan Cup at the Nuevo Estadio of Tarragona. The Blaugrana defeated Nastic, who play in Segunda B and are reigning champions of the tournament, to reach the title match of the competition. 

Lombán scores 

Barça B soon took control of the match and Lombán scored from the penalty spot after Patric had been brought down in the area. The Blaugrana had the initiative, but they were unable to create many of goalscoring chances. Joan Roman, however, had a great chance after a good personal play but his shot went wide. 

The reserve side dominate 

The visiting team, led by Rafinha, upped their pace and the chances started to flow. Barça B dominated through possession play and incisive passes from the Brazilian youngster, who linked up well with striker Araujo. Eusebio Sacristán started rotating in fresh players after the break. He sent in Samper, who’s a midfielder, and the attack minded Adama. 

The pace slows 

Nastic gained a bit of ground in the second half and they started to threaten Oier’s goal. The Barça B keeper pulled out an amazing save to deny the home team after on 75 minutes. The rhythm of the match slowed as the Blaugrana wrestled away possession from Nastic. Forced to go forward because of the result, the home team started to take risks, and they came close to equalising through Fran Carbia, but his shot went over the crossbar. 

The referee blew the final whistle and Barça B had clinched qualification to the final of the Catalan Cup, where they will face off against Espanyol.