Welcome to the latest edition of Inside Barcelona, our weekly series to follow throughout La Liga’s 2025-26 season.

We will bring you key information and analysis on the biggest talking points in and around the Camp Nou, cutting through the noisy world of all things Barca with reporting you can trust.

The information contained in this article reflects multiple conversations with various sources at the Spanish champions, all of whom wanted to speak anonymously to protect relationships.

What’s the biggest talking point at Barcelona right now?

Joan Laporta winning Sunday’s election to continue as club president until 2031.

The 63-year-old was voted in ahead of Victor Font, a local fintech entrepreneur and the only other candidate. Laporta received 68.1 per cent of the vote, while Font won 29.8 per cent, with the remaining votes void or invalid. Some 48,480 of Barcelona’s club members took part — with turnout at 42.3 per cent.

In his victory speech, Laporta said the results were “a show of support for the work we have been doing” since he returned as president for a second spell in 2021. He also led the club from 2003 to 2010.

Sunday’s vote marked the end of a frenetic month of campaigning that dominated the noise around La Liga’s reigning champions and current leaders. Laporta was considered the favourite, primarily because of the popular sporting project he has assembled, with Hansi Flick as first-team manager and former Barca player Deco as sporting director.

Laporta’s win guarantees stability to this project, which will continue with the same personnel as its key decision makers. Multiple first-team players also showed up to vote at the Camp Nou; Pau Cubarsi, Pedri, Raphinha, Gavi, Ronald Araujo and Dani Olmo were all pictured with Laporta.

Shortly after midnight, when the vote count finally ticked up to 100 per cent, Laporta’s supporters and confidants were seen singing the club anthem with a mariachi band. The musicians had been sent to the house where the winning campaign team was staying as a congratulatory surprise.

“It gives us great strength, and makes us unstoppable,” Laporta added in his speech. “The years ahead are going to be exciting, I am sure they will be some of the best in our lives.”

Keep an eye on The Athletic’s Barcelona pages for further analysis of Laporta’s victory.

What did we learn from Sunday’s match?

The election results were announced after 11pm local time last night. During the afternoon, Barcelona played at home to Sevilla in La Liga, and the script could hardly have gone better for Flick.

Barca were 5-1 up with 30 minutes left, which meant the German could manage the team’s playing time with Wednesday’s Champions League last 16 second leg at home to Newcastle United, which is level at 1-1, in mind.

Pedri was taken off at half-time (when it was 3-1), Eric Garcia was not required from the bench and Lamine Yamal only came on in the 67th minute. Flick was not altogether satisfied, however, despite the eventual 5-2 victory re-establishing their four-point lead over Real Madrid, who beat Elche 4-1 on Saturday, at the top of the table with 10 games to go.

“A lot of things were good, we have three more points and one game less, but we did not play with the conviction I want to see in my team,” he said in his post-match press conference. “We need that conviction to play faster. We need to have this in mind ahead of Newcastle, because it is a huge game.”

The happiest man was Raphinha, who scored a hat-trick. The Brazil star was not among the Barca players in need of a rest — actually quite the opposite. He had not shown his best over the past few games, so being able to boost his morale with a clinical performance in front of goal will be a handy lift before Wednesday.

Joao Cancelo also deserves a mention. The versatile Portugal international defender is justifying his January loan signing as an emergency backup. He put in an excellent showing at left-back, shining in attack and scoring a wonderful goal for Barca’s fifth.

What was the atmosphere like?

It was a busy day at the Camp Nou, where the presidential voting started at 9am and continued until 9pm, several hours after the final whistle against Sevilla.

Sunday was also the first home match Barcelona have played since permission was granted to increase the ground’s temporary capacity to 62,000 during its ongoing renovations. The attendance of 56,483 was their biggest since before the rebuild project began in June 2023.

When the €1.5billion (£1.3bn; $1.7bn at the current rates) refurbishment is completed, capacity will be 105,000. Work is still ongoing — the stadium’s top/third tier of seats and roof are yet to be finished.

The new Gol Nord stand was opened for the first time yesterday and a new supporters’ section, of some 800 places, took up its new position in the stand behind the opposite goal. Fans had called for its reinstatement since the board suspended it following fines by UEFA and La Liga over their behaviour in that part of the ground.

What might we have missed this week?

Hopefully you didn’t miss him, but special mention should go here to Xavi Espart — the latest Barcelona academy kid to grab his chance in the first team.

After a senior debut as a late substitute on Tuesday in Newcastle, the 18-year-old had his first start against Sevilla. He played the full game, and put in another encouraging performance as a right-back.

Espart playing against Sevilla on Sunday (Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

“It’s been unbelievable to play at the Camp Nou,” he told broadcaster DAZN after the game. “I am a player of the reserves team, and I’m just here to help whenever they need me. Flick tells me to be confident and fear nothing. If I play my game, everything will be fine.”

Espart is another member of the outstanding La Masia age group that also included Yamal, Pau Cubarsi and Marc Bernal. He was initially a midfielder, but three years ago was shifted to right-back to cover for youth-team injuries there. He has not left the position since.