Hundreds of football fans in Bulgaria went crazy as they welcomed Barcelona at  Sofia Airport on November 16. On Wednesday the Spanish team played against Bulgarian champions Levski in their second to last group A match in the UEFA Champions League.

The Catalan flight was delayed by almost an hour as the plane landed at 2.15pm instead of 1.30pm. Nevertheless, about 250 people came to the airport, burning with enthusiasm and impatience to see their favourite players live in front of them.

Finally, the long-awaited miracle happened - a whole galaxy of world's most talented and famous football players stepped in front of the hysterical crowd. Most of the people turned their attention towards the best player for 2005, Ronaldinho, who kept smiling all the way to the bus that was waiting for the team outside the terminal.

Barcelona arrived in Sofia with its full squad except the injured Samuel Eto'o, Leonel Mesi, Julian Belletti and Havier Saviola.

Most of the fans were well equipped with cameras and notebooks for autographs. Fortunately, Barca’s players satisfied people’' desire to save a memory of the event. They gave plenty of signatures and pictures.

Later, the president of Barcelona, Joan Laporta, joined Bulgarian national coach and legendary player of the Catalan team, Hristo Stoichkov, in the Grand Hotel Sofia. Together with Barca’s coach, Frank Rijkard, and its captain, Carles Puyol, they established the second official fanclub of Barcelona in Bulgaria named “Hristo Stoichkov”.

On November 15, Stoichkov accompanied the Laporta to an official meeting with the mayor of Sofia, Boiko Borissov. A month ago, when English football champion Chelsea played against Levski in Sofia, the coach organised such a meeting between the manager of the London club, Jose Mourinho, and Borissov.

Right after the match, Barcelona flew away. Nobody waited for the players at the Sofia airport as they left. They could enjoy their privacy on their way back home.