The city government in Barcelona has ignited a mini-firestorm of controversy in deciding to dress the iconic Christopher Columbus statue marking the port with the Barcelona colors ahead of the derby this weekend with cross-town rivals Espanyol. The giant jersey appeared on Tuesday after club sponsor Nike agreed to pay Barcelona 100,000 euros for the publicity stunt. The blue and red will remain in public view until June 9, much to the annoyance of Espanyol fans and management.

Ha!

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There’s something striking about this image; I love it!

Image: Manel Montilla [MD]

Pep Guardiola recently visited Argentina which has led to this inspired bit of advertising by the local branch of soft drink giant Pepsi in which Pep and Real Madrid manager José Mourinho are compared. A translation is after the jump.

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This will be the mosaic of support prepared by FC Barcelona for Wednesday night’s Champions League return leg against Bayern Munich. This is the 3rd special mosaic of the year. It will read “Barça!, Orgull, Barça!“, which translates as “Barça, Pride, Barça” and is completed with colors of the senyera and azulgrana. The grey sections in the upper terraces are where Bayern Munich travelling supporters will sit and those seats will not be allocated banners.

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Messi smiles during training at the Allianz Arena ahead of the UEFA Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich.

Picture Credit: PEP MORATA – MD

On Wednesday, two Argentine icons, the world’s greatest football player and the current Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, got a bit closer when Pope Francis was presented with the No. 10 Barcelona jersey of Lionel Messi.

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The FC Barcelona Intersport players showed their support for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing with a sign that read “With #BostonMarathon.” They displayed the special banner before a Liga ASOBAL handball game. In addition to Barça Intersport, Cuatro Rayas BM Valladolid and the referees also posed with the sign to show their support.

Picture credit: GERMÁN PARGA – FCB

Tello and Thiago embrace after scoring [and assisting] on Sunday against Real Zaragoza.

Image: Pep Morata

Picture credit: Pere Punti – MD

Xavi Hernandez has been with the Barcelona first squad now for 15 years; he has played 665 official matches. But before Tuesday he had never scored a penalty for the team. Can you believe it?

Image: Eurosport

Tito Vilanova was managing his team from the bench in the Champions League quarter-final game for the first time in more than two months following his return from medical treatment in New York.

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This image speaks for itself. Why do we even bother with linesmen and goal-line referees if they can’t catch stuff like this?

Invade? Ok, well, maybe just “gather.”

Image: Claudio Chaves – MD

Will we ever see Lionel Messi take a penalty kick again? Referees do make mistakes but this was unforgivable!

David Villa, accompanied by his two adorable daughters Zaida and Olaya, presented his son Luca, born on 28 January 2013. At the end of the training session with the Spanish national team, Villa’s kids accompanied him on a special day of his comeback to El Molinón in Gijón, the stadium of Sporting de Gijón, David Villa’s first club. The Spanish national team trained in the stadium to prepare for the World Cup Brazil 2014 qualifying match against Finland.

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With the upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers quickly approaching, the members of the Spanish national team naturally are grilled in front of the press over a multitude of issues. On Wednesday, Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos (26) was asked, “If you were to sign one player from FC Barcelona, who would it be?” His answer, quite surprisingly, wasn’t the cliche Iniesta or Messi.  No… he chose Sergio Busquets. Continue reading »

FC Barcelona striker Lionel Messi (25) donned the Captain’s armband for the first time in an official game on Sunday against Rayo Vallecano due to the absence of Puyol, Xavi, Valdes and the substitution of Iniesta. With 2 goals against Rayo, Messi now has 42 goals in La Liga. Messi also has scored in 18 consecutive Liga games (29 goals).

Source: fcbarcelona.com; Image Credit: Miguel Ruiz/fcbarcelona.cat

FC Barcelona head coach Tito Vilanova was on hand for Friday’s training session at Red Bull Arena in in Harrison, New Jersey, at the waterfront across from Newark, the home of the New York Red Bulls. Tito, who is undergoing cancer treatment in a nearby New York City hospital, paid a visit to the stadium and after training he walked down to the pitch to meet with former FC Barcelona forward Thierry Henry.

Source: newyorkredbulls.com; Picture credit: @FCBarcelona_FR

David Villa got the decisive goal in the 2011 Champions League final and celebrated the goal against Milan on Tuesday the same way – as FC Barcelona remains on course for a return to the same venue, Wembley stadium.

Picture credit: MIGUEL RUIZ (FCB)/UEFA.COM

90,000 cards were distributed in the Camp Nou on Tuesday night to create a special mosaic for the Milan match. The mosaic combined the Barça and Catalan colors along with an inspiring message: “Som un Equip” (We are a team).

Picture credit: MANEL MONTILLA – MD

90,000 cards will be distributed in the Camp Nou on Tuesday night to create a special mosaic for the Milan match. The mosaic, the second in the stadium this season, will combine the Barça and Catalan colors along with an inspiring message: “Som un Equip” (We are a team).

Image: FCB official site

A solid gold replica of footballer Lionel Messi’s left foot, complete with veins and the swirls of skin on the bottom of the toes, was presented on Wednesday at a famous jewelry store in Tokyo. The estimated value of the unique object that was created from a mold of the star striker’s foot by Ginza Tanaka to mark Messi’s record-breaking fourth consecutive Ballon d’Or award is 486.5 million yen (about 4 million euros). The statue of 25 kilos was presented by the president of the Ginza Tanaka jewelry chain, Masakazu Tanaka, and Lionel’s older brother, Rodrigo Messi.

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FC Barcelona’s  Juvenil A team did not miss its chance to win the League championship. Yesterday, after thrashing Cornellà (3-0) at the Ciutat Esportiva, they won the División de Honor title. The boys in the team coached by Jordi Vinyals completed the championship with an excellent stats record, only one defeat, and have sealed their league win with five games left to play. Congratulations blaugrana boys!

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The picture above is of the 15 players that have conducted their craft both in the colors blaugrana and rossoneri.

Can anyone name all 15?

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Time stops in the Camp Nou as Leo Messi considers his next move…

Image: Manel Montilla

FC Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué and singer Shakira have shared the first picture of their two-week-old son Milan.

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This image maps the frequent of possession based on areas of FC Barcelona versus Real madrid.  The final possession statistic at the end of the game was 62% from 664 passes, but what we see from the map is the areas in which the ball was held most, based upon the darker red color.

Image Credit: fcbarcelona.es

Lionel Messi sent a special signed jersey as a tribute to Gerd Muller after breaking his record for the most goals scored in a calendar year. In this picture, Gerd Muller acknowledges the gesture with a proud smile!

Image Credit: fcbayern.telekom.de

This photo says it all really: they still couldn’t stop him!

Image: Pere Puntí

Lionel Messi sent a special signed jersey to Gerd “The Bomber” Muller this month bearing the following inscription: “For Gerd Muller, with my respect and admiration. A hug. Leo.”

Image: @FCBayern