Messi misses Club World Cup semi-final through illness

We’re glad to be facing the European champions again this time around.

Barcelona’s Luis Suarez netted a hat-trick against Guangzhou to send Barca to the Club World Cup final.

They are first at Primera Division with 35 points from 15 games ( same as Atletico Madrid, but Barcelona has a better goal difference), they qualified for the Champions League knockout phase without any major problems as well as for the next round of Copa del Rey.

Luis Suarez has scored his 13th goal in 10 games to give Barcelona a 1-0 lead over Asian champions Guangzhou Evergrande in the the semi-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup.

“How many clubs in the world are wanting to have this opportunity that we have, to fight against Barcelona?”. But the South Americans first have to beat J-League title holders Sanfrecce Hiroshima in tomorrow’s first semi-final in Osaka. “Obviously Guangzhou have proved they are a strong team”, Barca midfielder Sergio Busquets told reporters.

“We lost 3-0 to them but other big clubs have lost to them by the same score so we are no worse”, Scolari said. “I have to dream and make the players believe that they can do it. Why not dream, why not believe we can beat Barcelona?”.

“Robinho still has a lot of years left in his career and is probably in the best stage of his career”, Enrique said.

In his wilder days back in the cutthroat world of Brazilian domestic soccer, he was even known to criticise players for not fouling enough, and to throw spare balls onto the pitch to disrupt opposition attacks. “We are here for the Club World Cup and it’s very important to us”. In that sense, we are in a very competitive environment.

Barcelona begin their campaign against Guangzhou Evergrande on Thursday and could meet Argentinian giants River Plate in what would be a mouth-watering final.

Guangzhou booked its place in the semifinals – its second in three years – with a 2-1 win over Mexico’s Club America on Sunday night. The players are disappointed like I am as we wanted to continue with our advantage over rivals. “But what has especially improved is the midfield and the forward line”.

“I’m well aware that it will be hard, but after winning the Chinese Super League and the AFC Champions League, we can be optimistic”, Scolari said in an interview on Saturday, Dec. 12.