'Gio' is ready for the big one

FC Barcelona celebrated their Spanish championship with an open-top bus ride through the streets of their city. uefa.com diarist Giovanni van Bronckhorst hopes they will have an even more prestigious trophy to show off after Wednesday's UEFA Champions League final.

We had a fantastic day touring the streets of Barcelona on Sunday and it was very special to share our title success with our supporters. Even though a lot of people believed we would win the league again, it was still a lot of hard work and to actually do it is a massive relief.

One-season wonder
Frank Rijkaard has been building this team for a while and it's great to start getting the prizes to show for all the effort. We want to prove we're not a one-season wonder and that this Barcelona side is here to stay. We want to be remembered in the same way the great Barcelona teams of the past are remembered.

Here to stay
I am sure this side will be around for a while as there are quite a few players with long contracts and everybody is very happy here. Nobody wants to break this team up. Of course it is inevitable that a few players will go and a few others will come in, because no team stays exactly the same. Among all the celebrations we were a bit sad to see Henrik Larsson and Gabri García play their last games at the Nou Camp. Gabri has been at the club for a long time and has been a great servant to Barcelona. Larsson has been here two years and has become loved by everyone. He's a great player and a great guy and we'll all miss him.

A special team
We enjoy our football and when you have a team with a great spirit, you really want to work hard for each other. It's very special to be part of that and I feel I've been really lucky to have played in this side. I think we can get better, but another challenge will be to maintain the level we have set over the last two years. It's hard to keep playing at the standard we have set ourselves but we aim to do that and we will always be looking at how we can improve. The more we play together, the more we can learn from each other.

Perfect finale
Of course, the perfect way to finish the season would be to win the UEFA Champions League. It's very important to the club because it is a trophy we haven't won very often. We hope to take the way we have been playing all season into the final in Paris - it would be amazing to win in style. We want to win the UEFA Champions League as much as we wanted to win the Primera División, so we can live up to the expectations people have of us. We believe we are a very good side and it's important to get the trophies to back that up.