02.08.2007 13:49
First stop: Beijing
David Saura / Vanessa Forns
The FC Barcelona took off from la Ciutat Contal on Thursday on an 11-hour flight to Beijing as the tour of Asia begins. The trip will see the team play in the Chinese capital, Yokohama and Hong Kong.
Club president Joan Laporta headed the party and was accompanied by vice-presidents Ferran Soriano
and Marc Ingla, director Albert Perrin, technical secretary Txiki Begiristain and social area
member Jacint Borrás.
At exactly 11:30am, the Barça coach carrying the squad pulled up at the airport in Prat where
everyone disembarked and headed inside before boarding a Boeing 340-300 to take the trip to
Beijing.
The flight will touchdown in China at midnight Catalan time and 6am local time and there will
be time given for the players to rest before the start of a long day. There is a plan in place for
training to take place later on Friday.
Creating excitement
Being August, Barcelona airport was packed with people arriving or
departing and when the FC Barcelona squad arrived they attracted a great deal of attention.
Everyone stopped and posed for photographs and signed autographs before boarding the plane.