The FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala comes to an end at 20.00. Leo Messi, winner of four Ballons d’Or, is mobbed by the press, as is Andrés Iniesta and the members of the FIFA/FIFPro World XI Dani Alves, Gerard Piqué and Xavi Hernández. The FC Barcelona players talk to the press until it’s time to board the plane back home to Barcelona (21.45).
The players are accompanied by President Sandro Rosell, Vice-President Josep Maria Bartomeu, directors Manel Arroyo and Jodri Mestre, and Football Director Andoni Zubizarreta.
Toasts and jokes
The flight back to Catalonia is uneventful. The players and their families joke around with each other and pose for photographs with the 2012 Ballon d’Or. Dani Alves is the most lively, he grabs the trophy and declares: “it’s as if I had won it!” Later, Club directors and players gather to toast to the award winners and, at 23.45, the plane touches down at El Prat Airport.
The trip is over and the long day comes to an end. Everyone makes their way home except for Leo Messi, who still has one more press conference with the Catalan press at the airport.
