Champions League - Huge crowd welcomes Barca

Eurosport - Fri, 29 May 08:13:00 2009

Treble-winners Barcelona finally met their match on the streets of their home city as up to a million fans flocked to welcome them home from their Champions League final triumph.

FOOTBALL Members of Barcelona football team wave to the crowd as they celebrate their Champions League victory from the top of a bus along the streets of Barcelona - 0

The Catalans have outplayed all comers to win La Liga, Copa del Rey and now the Champions League, but they struggled to make their way through the crowds to the Nou Camp to complete their celebrations.

Having beaten Manchester United 2-0 in Rome on Wednesday, the squad flew back to Barcelona on Thursday afternoon and it was coach Pep Guardiola and captain Carles Puyol who carried the European Cup down the steps from the plane.

They boarded an open-top bus and with the trophies propped up inside the front windscreen, set off for a journey that would take over three hours. A second bus drove behind pumping out music.

Spanish media reported that up to a million fans thronged the streets to greet them.

The players, who all wore blue shirts emblazoned with "Cup, League and Champions", danced, sang songs, waved flags and sprayed drinks over the fans.

The club threw open the doors of the Nou Camp and a capacity 98,000 crowd had to wait for over an hour past the scheduled arrival time for the team to make their entrance and kick off the evening's festivities.

After the final on Wednesday night, around 100,000 fans celebrated in the centre of Barcelona, but events turned ugly later on.

Local police told Spanish media they had detained 119 people mainly for public disorder offences and causing damage. Medical services dealt with injuries to 153 people, with 23 needing hospital treatment.

Reuters

Comment 26 - 45 of 85

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. MESSIAN impossible!

    From grenland7, on Fri 29 May 7:43AM

  2. The best team won,spainish game is full of accurate­ passing and that was the different b,tn Barca and­ WO-united,now the qtn is who will be the European­ player of the year?Ronaldo for me absolutely no chance­ Messi all the way,

    From dennis, on Fri 29 May 7:10AM

  3. Wheres Manchester United's­ Parade??......Weren't they promised one??...

    From carlos c, on Fri 29 May 6:22AM

  4. mission accomplished..........

    From Zul Khairi Zahari, on Fri 29 May 5:55AM

  5. First of all Congratulations to Barcelona, for Man U to­ have retained the title we would never hear the end of­ it but what the hell black d, don't lop the us­ scots, the welsh and the Northern Irish in with the­ English and their arrogance we're all fed up­ hearing about 1966, but they have a flippin point about­ having the best league in the world and having most of­ their teams that qualify for the CL consistantly, they­ just lack the ability to follow through to the title­ occassionally, might have something to do with the­ gruelling pace that the EPL is played at, which is the­ other reason apart from the money they generate that­ they do so well, quality opposition week in week out,­ even if it does damage the national teams chances­ (which is divine justice really if they are going to­ have quality domestic football then their international­ football should be horrible)

    From davidjmmuir, on Fri 29 May 5:49AM

  6. It is good to make champion league cup so compititive a­ mong various club on europe continent so that every­ club should have hope for it. i.e last season it was­ manchester this season it is Bacelona and who for next­ season?

    From langula22, on Fri 29 May 5:34AM

  7. It is good to make champion league cup so compititive a­ mong various club on europe continent so that every­ club should have hope for it. i.e last season it was­ manchester this season it is Bacelona and who for next­ season?

    From langula22, on Fri 29 May 5:32AM

  8. Unlike all idiots who are just fighting over the­ internet here(pff!).. I would like to say CONGRATS­ BARCA AND ALL THEIR FANS! Amazing end to an amazing­ amazing year.. RM will hopefully catch up next year :)­ No regrets coming 2nd to this squad. The world views RM­ Fans and Teams as idiots for not being able to overcome­ this barca side! WTF?! But all that apart.. CONGRATS­ AND THOROUGHLY DESERVED.

    From jaw3dib, on Fri 29 May 5:32AM

  9. DaGringo. HOW STUPID ARE YOU?

    BARCELONA DID NOT WIN­ IN 1991.

    IT WAS 1992.

    From r.p10, on Fri 29 May 5:26AM

  10. DaGringo. HOW STUPID ARE YOU?

    BARCELONA DID NOT WIN­ CHAMPIONS LEAGUE UNTIL 2006.

    IN 1992 IT WAS STILL­ EUROPEAN CUP. AND MANCHESTER UNITED HAD ALREADY WON­ THAT IN 1968.

    IDIOT.

    From r.p10, on Fri 29 May 5:21AM

  11. r.p10
    you @#$% you cl not the european cup. that's­ how I figure loser.

    From DaGringo, on Fri 29 May 5:03AM

  12. 104 league goals. Not a Spanish record.

    Real Madrid­ scored 107 league goals in 89/90 season.

    From r.p10, on Fri 29 May 4:33AM
  13. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    DaGringo. How do you figure that you moron?

    EUROPEAN­ CUP
    1968 MANCHESTER UNITED
    1992 BARCELONA

    And before­ you acne sufferer replies. MARSEILLE 1993. The first­ team to win the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE.
    You Spanish­ prat.

    CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
    1999 MANCHESTER UNITED
    2006­ BARCELONA

    From r.p10, on Fri 29 May 4:03AM

  14. r.p10
    Barcelona nothing in the CL until recently? They­ won it BEFORE ManU though... LOSER

    From DaGringo, on Fri 29 May 3:47AM
  15. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Half A Brain
    You don't even have half obviously as­ just last season Madrid won the league R*E*T*A*R*D...­ why such a sore loser... LA Liga, THE League, there is­ only one and the Extraordinarily Poor League cannot­ compare, it is to far below us...

    From DaGringo, on Fri 29 May 3:46AM

  16. abdelgafar s
    I'd say there is a big doubt... its­ called BARCELONA, Loser.

    From DaGringo, on Fri 29 May 3:43AM

  17. There is no dought that English league is the best ever­ all over the world !!!!!! , but Barcalona has taken the­ cup from 4 of them were in the 1/4 final , and 3 of­ them were in 1/2 final, the English football has always­ problem in the final, .......for the last 5 season 4­ english team were on final, only one time won , pulse­ one was English final, Brca has taken 2 of them ,

    From ven, on Fri 29 May 3:35AM

  18. black d. Your statistics are nonsense.
    Barcelona DID­ NOT win the CL in 1991. That shows your level of­ knowledge.
    Barcelona were nothing in the CL until­ recently.
    When will another Spanish team succeed in the­ CL besides Real Madrid and Barcelona?
    4 English teams­ have won. Manchester United, Liverpool, Nottingham­ Forest, Aston Villa.

    It is easy for Barcelona to have­ all the best players in the Spanish Liga. There is no­ competiton besides Real Madrid.

    From r.p10, on Fri 29 May 2:48AM

  19. Stop hiding numbers and showing others. We all know­ Real and Barca are good but no other team has seriously­ competed with them in La Ligua in the last 25 years­ except Valencia for 3 years. That is not the case in­ the EPL.

    From Half A Brain, on Fri 29 May 2:33AM

  20. they say real won la liga 5 times in row, this show how­ stupied you are real at that time they have won even­ champions league 5 times in row, so do you think even­ champions league is weak competion
    by the way there are­ 3 question in my mind for long time
    1 when we will see­ other team in CL except so called the big 4?
    2 when we­ will see your teams success in UEFA?
    3 when would be­ london clubs especialy arsenal and chelsea win CL?

    From black, on Fri 29 May 2:13AM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account