On their return to Barcelona from Paris captain Carles Puyol and coach Frank Rijkaard carried the trophy down the steps of the plane before the squad transferred to the city centre.

It was a rare appearance in the limelight by Rijkaard. Puyol had to convince him to come on to the victor's podium when the trophy was presented in the Stade de France, media reports said.

The Primera Liga champions completed a double with a 2-1 win over 10-man Arsenal in Wednesday's final in Paris, the club's second European Cup success.

Barcelona city council had asked fans to avoid congregating at the airport so the festivities did not get started properly until the team arrived in the city harbour on a barge.

From there the players, all wearing t-shirts with the club's slogan "Mes que un club" (More than a club), boarded a bus to tour through the packed city streets.

Ecstatic fans hailed their side's success and predicted the start of a new era for the club.

"Next year we'll be back to win our third European Cup," one fan told Antena 3 television. Another said: "This team is going to make history."

For the second time in two weeks the tour finished in the Nou Camp where the players made circuits of the stadium to take the crowd's applause.

City residents and shop owners will be bracing themselves for another potential night of disturbances after the previous night's celebrations turned sour in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The city council said over 100,000 euros of damage was done to shops, phone boxes and traffic lights in the Las Ramblas district, with some fans starting running battles with police as events ran out of control.

According to the police 45 people were detained and over 100 people were injured.