Joan Laporta’s new Barca chapter begins with Newcastle clash

The Magpies visit on Wednesday in the Champions League last 16, the tie delicately poised after a 1-1 draw. Read more at straitstimes.com.

BARCELONA – Cava was flowing before the votes had even begun to be counted, and long after that too, with Barcelona’s president reelect Joan Laporta exuberantly shaking a bottle of it in the early hours of Monday morning in his beloved party venue Luz de Gas.

The battle was over, rival election candidate Victor Font dispatched with consummate ease, but now the real fight begins – with Laporta desperate to propel Barcelona back to the European throne.

Newcastle visit on Wednesday in the Champions League last 16, the tie delicately poised after a 1-1 draw on Tyneside last week, Eddie Howe’s men underdogs but posing a clear threat as shown by their strong display.

If the last five years were about bringing Barcelona back from the ICU, as he put it after inheriting a tower of debt, then the next five must build on the platform they have created.

Should the Catalan giants go one better than last season, when they reached the semi-finals for the first time in six years, and then triumph in Budapest, theoretically Laporta would not even be the president yet.

His second consecutive mandate – and fourth in total, having led the club from 2003-2010 – begins in July, with temporary chief Rafa Yuste in charge until then.