Sepp Maier visits the Camp Nou

Josef Dieter ‘Sepp’ Maier’s visit to the Camp Nou was defined by the man himself as “very special and emotional.” 

The former keeper, who is considered to be one of the best that Germany has ever produced, stopped by the Club’s facilities before embarking on a Mediterranean cruise that will take him to the stadiums in the cities of Valencia, Granada, Sevilla and Malaga, among others. 

He said in reference to FC Barcelona’s history: “We have to value what Barça has done in recent years,”  

Maier, who won the World Cup in 1974 and the Euro in 1972 with Germany, started his tour at the FC Barcelona Museum, where he was accompanied by Museum Director Jordi Penas. The former keeper paid special attention to the Johan Cryuff exhibit and the section reserved for Bayern Munich’s current manager, Josep Guardiola. 

His visit to the Museum was noticed by German tourists, who then accompanied Maier as he completed the tour of the Museum. Maier also got the chance to sit in the presidential box at the Camp Nou, where he was interviewed by a series of news outlets. 

However, the most exciting moment for the former German international was when he walked out onto the pitch of the Camp Nou. Maier featured at the Camp Nou on four occasions during his career: twice in the Joan Gamper Trophy (1967), Bayern lost 2-1 in the semi-finals and later played in third and fourth place match and two more times in the same tournament in 1971. 

Finally, he stated: “When I was a player, Barça was one of the best teams in the world”.

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Bartomeu believes in Leo Messi

Josep Maria Bartomeu has every belief in the leading role of Leo Messi at Barça. Speaking to TV3, the club president insisted that the club is looking to improve the Argentinian’s contractual conditions, as well as commenting on several other issues.

Bartomeu commented: "I think people are being unfair to Leo Messi, he has led us to so many wins in recent years. He has led the team, and done very well and we have no doubt that he will continue to lead the club into the future. He’s a young player, the best in the world and we have every faith in him."

The president spoke about a ‘modification’ to Messi’s contract, saying that “he has a contract until 2018 but we want to make him an offer because we need to adapt to the current situation in football."

Josep Maria Bartomeu also confessed that the club is already thinking about changes for next season. He declared: “Some decisions have been made and there are others to be made, but this is not the time to announce them because we are still playing in a competition”. 

Bartomeu also spoke in defence of the players, the coaches and the rest of the people working at the club. He confirmed that Zubizarreta will be leading the process of restructuring the team and that they have a lot of respect for Martino because they still have five games left in the league and it is their responsibility to be competitive and keep up the pressure on the leaders. 

The president also spoke about his board, insisting that there won’t be elections. He insisted: “This board was voted in in 2010 and the project we have been implementing all this time ends in 2016. We have two years left and we’re excited about going forward with this”. 

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Josep Maria Bartomeu and Andoni Zubizarreta, together at training

The Club President , Josep Maria Bartomeu spoke to the players at this morning’s training session at the Ciutat Esportiva. 

He also spent a few minutes before the session talking with the sporting director, Andoni Zubizarreta and the coach, Tata Martino, began preparations for Wednesday’s Cup Final against Real Madrid.

The Captain Carles Puyol thanked the President for the visit in his press conference this lunchtime, explaining: “The President is right there alongside us and we appreciate his words of support”.

Immediately afterwards, the President, accompanied by the sporting vicepresident, Jordi Mestre and the board member with responsibility for Barça B and the Youth team, Silvio Elías, flew to Switzerland, where the Youth A team are due to play in the UEFA Youth League final against Benfica.

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Gerardo Martino has a very brave team

Gerardo Martino commented in his post-match press conference that his men were brave. 

When asked about the game against Atlético, Martino said that “the flow of the game was what they (Atlético) were looking for” and “it’s not that we didn’t match their intensity, it’s that we were unable to string 4-5 passes together like we wanted to. 

We had our chances after Atlético had taken the lead, they had chances too, but if we could have scored it would have been a different game”. He also added: “All the games against Atlético have been similar. They score the first goal because they were more intense than us.”

When asked about Leo Messi’s performance, the manager said: “We wanted Messi to engage in one-on-ones with his defender on the right wing. He didn’t have a lot of participation, but he did have two goal-scoring chances. We didn’t base our whole game plan on Messi’s position, we also had Cesc, Neymar and Iniesta.”

Finally, when asked about the morale of his men, Martino said that “the team isn’t doing well now. We will move forward in the Liga and the Cup. The most important thing is to continue competing, we have a decisive game in Granada and next Wednesday we have the Cup final.”

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Bartomeu confirmed that the new Camp Nou will be ready in 2021

The timeline for the New Espai Barça project will be revealed after the season comes to an end. 

Josep Maria Bartomeu said after the results of the referendum were announced: “The first thing we’ll do is to create and organise a work team. We want to create a team that will have a certain amount of independence, it will operate in parallel with the Executive Team.

The president went on saying that “in 2021 we’ll have the new Camp Nou, and it will be a source of pride for all Barça fans. It’s worth nothing that the renovation costs a total of  600 million euros and that construction is set to begin in 2017 and it will go through 2021”.

Before the completion of the project, however, in the summer of 2019, the new Camp Nou will be completed. The Espai Barça project also encompasses complimentary renovations for the Stadium and the Palau.

Bartomeu concluded by saying: “A lot of members came up to me and told me they were voting yes on the project that they will likely never see completed due to their age, but they came out to vote to guarantee a better future for the Camp Nou and the team for their grandchildren".

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Martino is satisfied with the game against Espanyol

FC Barcelona defeated Espanyol this afternoon at Cornellà-El Prat in a match that had “a lot of friction and many interruptions,” said Tata Martino in the post-match press conference. 

“We were expecting a game like this,” continued the manager, who added that the “first 15 minutes” played out the way Barça wanted. After the first quarter hour, however, things changed. “Espanyol’s pressure improved and we had to resort to longer passes. Espanyol are very well prepared to take control of follow-up plays.”

The Barça manager hopes that the post-match headlines focus on the football played at Cornellà and not controversial plays. “From 10,000 km away it seems as though football is what’s talked about after matches. I think it’s lamentable that we don’t talk more about football and I’m certain that today we won’t talk about football either,” he said in reference to the play the led to Messi’s go-ahead goal. 

When asked about the remaining league schedule, Martino was clear: “I see one good thing and one bad thing. 

The good thing is that derbies are always derbies and they have to be won. It was a risky away game. On the other hand, we still have very difficult games that are very important. 

We have seven finals left and we haven’t forgotten about our away game to Valladolid – we don’t want to commit the same errors.” He added: “I think it’s important for the players to remember where we were six days ago and where we are now.”

Martino concluded his press conference by dedicating the win to Víctor Valdés: “We want to dedicate this victory to him.”

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