Pasqual Maragall visits training session

The ex-President of Catalonia, Pasqual Maragall, came along to watch the players in training at Sant Joan Despí this morning, as the 4 first team players worked out with the B team.

Pasqual Maragall, ,who was President of Catalonia between 2003 and 2006 was present at pitch number three of the Ciutat Esportiva this morning, as Guardiola put the remnant s of his first team squad through their paces with the B team players. Sr Maragall spoke after the session with Guardiola, Iniesta Pinto and Maxwell. 

Training with the B team 
As has happened all week, the four members of the squad available –Pinto, Maxwell, Fontàs and Iniesta- trained with the B team, under the instructions of Pep Guardiola and Eusebio Sacristá, who shared the training duties between them. 

Final session of the week on Friday 
The squad will be back at the Ciutat Esportiva on Friday morning at 10.00 for the final session of a week that has seen 14 Barça players away with their national teams. 

36 goals from open play in 11 games

Barça have scored 37 goals in their first 11 games of this season, with just one coming from a dead ball situation – the rest have all been a result of teamwork and occurred in open play.

The five goals against Villarreal, Atlètico Madrid and BATE Borissov, or the historic 8-0 win over Osasuna have helped to make Barça the leading scorers around at the moment and what’s more, the goals are nearly all coming from open play. 

Brilliant interplay 
The 36 goals in open play have come with clever one-twos, incisive passing and brilliant interplay between Barça’s stars. The team’s leading scorer is Leo Messi, who as well as scoring 14 times has also laid on 9 assists for his teammates. 

Villa’s free kick 
There has only been one goal from a dead ball situation – David Villa’s stunning free kick against Milan in the first game of this season’s Champions League. That one of course, wasn’t quite enough, as the Italians fought back to grab a point in the last minute of the game. 

Three own goals 
Three of the 37 goals were down to defensive errors: Osasuna’s Roversio put through his own net, as did Atletico Madrid’s Miranda and BATE’s Volodko. 

With the Bobby Robson Foundation

Barça and Guardiola get involved in the auction for the benefit of the Bobby Robson Foundation

Barça and first team manager, Josep Guardiola, are joining the charity auction promoted by the organization Breakthrough Breast Cancer and the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, to raise funds for the fight against cancer. 
These two organizations have launched the Sir Bobby's Breakthrough Auction, an online charity auction to help in the fight against breast cancer, which involves different clubs, institutions, and individuals. Barça have joined the cause promoted by the Foundation of the ex Barça manager (1996/97) Bobby Robson, who died on 31 July 2009, victim of cancer. 

Barça - active participation 
In this auction, Barça will provide the possibility of being close to their stars. In fact, the winner will attend a first team training session, acquire a shirt signed by the players, participate in a meeting with some of the players and coach Josep Guardiola, and receive two tickets to attend a game at the Camp Nou. 

Guardiola: "It is a pleasure and an honour to contribute" 

The first team manager, Josep Guardiola, who spent the 1996/97 season under the guidance of Bobby Robson, is very pleased to participate in this charitable initiative. "For Barça and for me it is a pleasure and an honour to contribute to the Foundation of Sir Bobby Robson, and be a part of this task to fight against cancer. This is a small way to help because every day cancer is something that is better treated over time it will be just another illness" said Guardiola. 

Joining the auction that begins this Thursday, 6th of October is a new recognition of the figure of Robson. "I was lucky to be one of his players, and learn from him and his values, how to handle players, how to behave in victory and in defeat, and his fair-play. It was a great lesson for us and for me. As an institution it’s an honour to collaborate in this fight" Guardiola explained. 
You can contribute as a donor or participate as a bidder through the following website:www.sirbobbysbreakthroughauction.com 

Constant struggle against the disease 
The Sir Bobby Robson Breaktrough Breast Cancer is dedicated to raising awareness on prevention, treatment, and erradication of breast cancer, fighting on three fronts: research, information, and education.

Barça Fans QR barcode prize shirt is awarded

Alba Villar is the winner of the competition organised by Barça Fans using QR bar codes and has won a shirt signed by all the members of the first team.

Alba Villa is the winner. Photo: FCB

The first team shirt signed by all the players went to Alba Villar, who won the Barça Fans competition which was organised this summer using QR codes at the Club’s facilities. 

Villar is a Barça Fan and a supporter of the first team- especially of Andrés Iniesta and heard about the competition via the Club website. She was one of the thousands of people who signed up at www.fcbfans.com via her mobile, thanks to QR technology. QR – Quick Response – is a matrix barcode technology which allows users with a smartphone equipped with a camera and QR barcode reader to connect automatically to the Barça Fans website. 

More than half a million Barca Fans 
Barça Fans is the official FC Barcelona supporters community and as of August 1st had more than 600.000 members from all over the world, who enjoy special offers from the Club. Together with the 20 million fans on Facebook and 3 million on the three Twitter accounts - @fcbarcelona_cat, @fcbarcelona_es and @fcbarcelona, this has helped make the Barça feeling go global. Barça Fans has grown enormously, not just in Spain, but also in countries such as USA, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, India, Poland or Morocco.