Barcelona celebrate Champions triumph to sound of Shakira

May 29, 2011, 21:00 GMT

Barcelona, Spain - Barcelona celebrated their fourth Champions League triumph on Sunday with a noisy street parade followed by a euphoric party in their Camp Nou stadium.

Pep Guardiola's team, which beat Manchester United 3-1 on Saturday at Wembley - flew into the Catalan capital with the cup at 4 pm Sunday.

They drove slowly to the Camp Nou through the packed streets of Barcelona.

In their massive stadium, a capacity 95,000 crowd was waiting to applaud them. The famous Champions trophy was displayed to the fans by Guardiola and assistant coach Tito Vilanova.

A note of controversy was struck by defender Gerard Pique, who made fun of allegations apparently made by Real Madrid, in March, that Barca had been using illegal substances. Pique also referred to complaints by Real coach Jose Mourinho that Barca had received special treatment from UEFA's referees in recent years.

'We do not dope ourselves up,' shouted Pique to the crowd, 'nor do we buy referees. All we do is play football.'

Pique then invited the fans to attend the upcoming concert of his girlfriend, pop singer Shakira, whose songs were prominent throughout the celebrations.

Midfielder Andres Iniesta said: 'My heart tells me that to be a Barcelona player is the best thing in the world. I am proud of being one.'

Lionel Messi, voted man-of-the-match by UEFA, expressed hope for 'many more trophies for us to celebrate in the future.'

The most emotional moment of the night came when Eric Abidal spoke. The French veteran underwent an emergency operation in March to remove a cancerous tumour on his liver, and it was feared that he might never play again.

Instead, he recovered quickly and turned in a sterling display on Saturday at left-back. Barca captain Carles Puyol then insisted that Abidal pick up the trophy instead of him.

'I want to say thanks to the captain (Puyol),' Abidal said, 'for his important gesture yesterday. It was the best day of my sporting career.'

Read more about Barcelona