Alen Halilovic wins the Croatian league

Alen Halilovic has won the Croatian football league with his current club Dynamo Zagreb. On Tuesday evening, the future FC Barcelona player scored the fourth of his team’s goals in a comfortable 5-0 win over Dragovoljac, thus mathematically clinching his club’s ninth consecutive national championship, and the 16th in total since it was first contested in 1992. 

Dynamo has 77 points from 32 games, and 14 are clear of Rijeka with four games yet to play.

17-year-old Halilovic, the league's youngest ever goalscorer and also the youngest ever debutant for the Croatian national team, has played 22 league games this season, scoring four goals. Last season he made 18 appearances. 

Dynamo is also through to the Croatian Cup Final, where they will play over Rijeka two games on May 7th and May 14th.

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Leo Messi fights for the Pichichi trophy

Leo Messi is one of three main contenders for La Liga’s leading goalscorer trophy, known as the Pichichi. 

Despite missing seven games when he was out through injury (Malaga, Valladolid, Granada, Bilbao, Villarreal, Getafe and Elche), his 26 goals put him back up there with Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Atlético’s Diego Costa, when in January it didn’t look like he’d be a challenger for the honour this season.

After starting 15 consecutive league games, Messi is still in fine form, with a massive haul of 18 goals from his last 13 appearances. With four league games left to play, it’s going to be a fascinating battle between the three most productive strikers in the championship. 

The trio is also among the leaders in the hunt for the European Golden Boot. The current leader is Uruguayan Luis Suárez of Liverpool. The three Liga players are next on the list: Ronaldo, Costa and Messi.

Messi is also closing rapidly in on Telmo Zarra, the Athletic Bilbao player of the 40s and 50s whose incredible total of 251 league goals was a record some people thought would never be beaten. But with 241 goals for Barça, it is surely just a matter of time before Leo Messi rewrites the history books yet again. 

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FC Barcelona fans cheer up the players in La Copa del Rey

Messi, Neymar Jr, Cesc, Iniesta and the rest of the team are preparing for Wednesday’s Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid.

The players know that the fans have been and will continue to be crucial in order to win the title, and that’s why they participated in a Club initiative to ask Barça fans from around the world to support the team.

To join the initiative, one must get their supporter card, which is available at Fan Wall. Through this application, fans can personalise their affiliation with the Club with photos and virtually visit the Barça Zone, the meeting point where Culés will gather ahead of the game in Valencia.

The Barça Zone will be decked out with massive screens that will show the pictures of Barça supporters. In addition, fans will be able to share their photos with friends, family and other Barça fans on social media.

The application also has a world map and a counter that will show the different supporter cards of fans that join the movement.

Approximately 20,000 fans will descend on Valencia on Wednesday, but the many who won’t go, can cheer Tata Martino’s men on virtually. It’s worth noting that the Club has also launched an application specifically designed for fans that make the trip to Mestalla.

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Historic day for Barça followers

Last Saturday was a historic day for Barça followers. Members were to decide the future of FC Barcelona in a democratic and civic exercise.

On top of that, three Supporters Clubs had reason to celebrate, as they inaugurated their emblems on the Stadium facade.

The first to do so was the Penya Barcelonista Addictes al Barça de Vinaròs. The emblem was revealed at gate 50, where the supporters club President, Jordi Llatser and Jordi Durà, Director of the Supporters Club Committee, did the honours.

Soon after it, was the turn of the Peña Barcelonista Albaladejo. Director of the Supporters Club Committee, Daniel Casanovas, was accompanied by the President of the supporters club, Francisco Olivares and the former player who the supporters club is named after, in the revealing of the Alicante supporters club at gate 51.

Finally, at gate 52, it was the turn of Peña Azulgrana de Villamayor, in the Province of Cuenca. 

The President of the supporters club, Manuel Cañizares, was accompanied by Daniel Peinado, President of the Barcelona Supporters Clubs from Castilla La Mancha. Jordi Durà opened the curtain to reveal the emblem.

Also in the hours before the match against Betis, the Castilla and León Supporters Clubs meeting was presented, and it will be the 14th edition this year. 

The Club Director and head of the Social Committee, Pau Vilanova, chaired the event. The delegation of the Barcelona Supporters clubs from Castilla and León was led by Nicolás Pérez, President of the Federation of supporters clubs from that region.

The meeting will be held this year on 14th of June at Alba de Tormes, and the Albense Barcelona Supporters Club will host the event.

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Martino is confident on the game against Atlético Madrid

In the pre-match press conference about Champions League game against Atlético Madrid, Gerardo Martino said that Barça “need to win” and that “we will try to take the lead, this will allow us to play the game differently.” The Argentinian manager said that Atlético “have a very defined style” and that he’s prepared for the game “with all of the available players in mind.”

Martino went on saying: “Managers take the enough amount of time to see if players are fit to play. We have to approach the game against Atlético as if all of their players are available”. “We’re used to Messi scoring a goal per game.

If he doesn’t score, we all take notice. What we want is for him to be decisive, but that doesn’t mean he has to score,” stated Martino, who added that Messi “has been decisive for the team in 2014, he’s had the continuity that he hasn’t had before and it’s clear that he’ll always be decisive for Barça.”

 Lastly, Martino concluded: “I don’t think our best moments at the Bernabéu were that different to the final minutes against Atlético Madrid. Only in one game we won and we didn’t in the other. We saw the best Barça in both matches”.

In Martino’s opinion, Barça’s objective “is to qualify for the semi-finals in 90 minutes. The prize is progressing to the semi-finals of the Champions League.”

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Camp Nou stars an Asian love story

Liu Shutong decided that the Camp Nou was the perfect place to ask his girlfriend to marry him. And that is exactly where he did it, while enjoying a visit to the Camp Nou. 

The young Chinaman, who was in Barcelona after winning the trip in a competition promoting Barça and Catalonia in his home country, offered his partner, Liu Panqiu, an engagement ring, which she emotionally accepted with tears in her eyes.

Shutong and Liu Panqiu met each other at the Barça supporters club in Wuhan, and their shared passion for the club has already seen them travel as far as Thailand last summer to watch the team on its Asian tour.

Dídac Lee, Barça director for new technologies, was there to welcome the guests to the club, saying that "it is in incredible to see what Barça means to people who live in a country as far away as China".

Lee added that Barça "wants to keep in close touch with our Chinese fans through the digital world. It’s very gratifying to see how much love people in other countries feel for the club. Barça is one of the finest ambassadors for Catalonia”.

The third edition of the ‘Barcelona Action’ competition organised by the Catalan Tourist Board in association with Tencent Sport and Qatar Airways and also FC Barcelona has made yet more dreams come true for Barça’s Chinese supporters. 

As in the first two editions, fans that feel a genuine passion for FCB have been able to come to the city for the very first time and get to see the Camp Nou from the inside.

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