Top-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal claimed his fourth straight title at the Conde de Godo Trophy in Barcelona defeating No. 2 seed and countryman David Ferrer 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.  After converting three of five break points to secure the first set, Nadal was then faced with seven break points against him in the second set, two of which Ferrer converted to help level the match at one set all. Nadal regained command in the third set though, winning 13 points more than Ferrer and breaking serve twice to secure the title victory in 2hrs., 14mins.Nadal’s record in Barcelona now stands at 21-1. His only loss came against countryman Alex Coretja in the second round on his debut appearance in 2003. In the past three years, he has defeated Juan Carlos Ferrer, Tommy Robredo and Guillermo Canas to win the title three times. He clinched his fourth title this week with the loss of just one set, winning in straight sets against Potito Starace, Feliciano Lopez, Juan Ignacio Chela and Denis Gremelmayr.Earlier in the season, Nadal finished runner-up in Chennai and at the Sony Ericsson Open, while also recording semi-final finishes at the Australian Open and ATP Masters Series Indian Wells. World No. 5 Ferrer was contesting his second final of this season. He claimed his first title of the season, and the sixth of his career, two weeks ago in Valencia.At this moment, the up to day ATP Ranking is: Roger Federer 6775 points, Rafael Nadal 5930, Novak Djokovic 4750, Nikolay  Davydenko 3440, David Ferrer 2780, Andy Roddick 2260, David Nalbandian 2110, James Blake 1965, Richard Gasquet 1690 and Tomas Berdych 1615.         And the ATP 2008 Race is: Rafael Nadal 409 points, Novak Djokovic 376, Roger Federer 265, Nikolay  Davydenko 260, David Ferrer 188, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 177, Andy Roddick 168, Nicolas Almagro 156, James Blake 156, David Nalbandian 141.       Another of the Rafael Nadal’s records on clay courts are his 103 wins and only 1 defeat.

This tournament was inaugurated in 1955 at the suggestion of the French sports journalist and editor of L’Equipe Gabriel Hanot as a continental competition for winners of the European national football leagues, as the European Champion Club’s Cup,  abbreviated to European Cup.

The competition began in 1955/56 using a two-leg knockout format where the teams would play two matches, one at home and one away, and the team with the highest overall score qualifying for the next round of the competition. Entry was restricted to the teams that won their national league championships, plus the current European Cup holder. This qualification system continued until 1992. In the 1992/93 season, the tournament was renamed to UEFA Champions League and in 1997/98, eligibility was expanded to include not just domestic champions but also the best performing runners up according to UEFA’s coefficient ranking list. In UEFA’s coefficient system, a team finishing second in the Spanish La Liga would be more deserving of an automatic place in the Champions League than a team finishing first in, for example, Polish Orange Ekstraklasa. As a result, the system was restructured to force “weaker” national champions to qualify for the group stages, while other, “stronger” national runners-up would automatically get places.According list below, since 1955  52 clubs and 10 countries have written his name in the European Football winners. Clubs: Real Madrid (9 wins), Milan (7), Liverpool (5), Ajax and Bayern Munich (4), Barcelona, Benfica, Inter, Juventus, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Porto (2) and Aston Villa, Borussia Dortmund, Celtic Glasgow, Feyenoord, Hamburg, Olympique Marseille, PSV Eindhoven, Steaua Bucarest and Red Star Belgrade (1).  

Countries: Italy and Spain (11 times), England (10), Germany and Holland (6), Portugal (4) and France, Rumania, Scotland and Serbia (1).

It was in 1953 when Carlos Godo Valls, the ‘Conde De Godo’ gave the trophy for a new international championship, in the opening of the new Real Club de Tenis Barcelona-1899 site in Pedralbes. The new international championships followed the tradition of several past tournaments since 1903. The first edition was played from July 3rd to 7th, and American Vic Seixas was the first winner.  In 1954 after the international success of first edition, the ‘Conde De Godo’ Trophy changes its dates to join the European clay-court season. In 1960 and due to it’s increasing success, the building of a new centre court is necessary, which can hold 3,000 spectators. The opening ceremony coincides with first ever-Spanish victory, when Andres Gimeno -from RCT Barcelona-1899- achieves the title with a victory over Giuseppe Merlo of Italy and in 1961 Australian Roy Emerson captures the first of three singles titles winning the final over rising young Spanish star Manolo Santana. In 1967 the centre court is known as the “talisman court” thanks to the Spanish Davis Cup team success, and it enlarges its capacity up to 8,500 spectators. In 1968 the ‘Conde De Godo’ trophy becomes the International Championships of Spain, after the agreement with the Spanish Tennis Federation. 11 Spanish players have win at least once the trophy being Manolo Santana and Rafael Nadal the most relevant winners.Roy Emerson, Ilie Nastase, Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lend and Mats Wilander are also important international players that also win this tournament.

Thousands of Celtic supporters took advantage of the city of Barcelona’s hospitality this week just walking along the Ramblas or specially by turning up at the meeting point specifically arranged for these visitors. From Sunday March 2 when the first visitors landed at Barcelona airport and specially from 11am on Tuesday March 4 the Celtic faithful arrived en masse at Montjuic Park for a day of live music, eating and drinking and relaxation ahead of the sell-out match at Camp Nou. The crowd was entertained by the BibleCode Sundays who had flown in from London and by Glasgow and Donegal’s Crooked Reel. There was also other live music, a Celtic DJ and a whole host of other events including a place to drinking beer and eating a portion from two huge paellas – capable of feeding 5,000 people. The party celebration was both indoors and outdoors in an Exhibition Hall and while the bands performed in the Barcelona sunshine, there was plenty to do inside the hall including table tennis, bar football, jump on elastics beds or a bronco-bull riding and as well as sheltering from a brief but fairly cold storm. There were also four enormous screens indoors showing Celtic historical and later on in the day those screens will also broadcast the match live between Barcelona and Celtic Glasgow (with English commentary) for those who travelled to the city without match tickets.
The Barcelona Police had no problems with the thousands who invaded the city for two days and mentioned that their behaviour both in the centre of the city, at Montjuic or at the Camp Nou was fantastic.”