Barcelona to meet River Plate in Fifa Club World Cup final

A Luis Suarez hat-trick put Barcelona one step closer to a record third Club World Cup title on Thursday as Guangzhou Evergrande had no answer to the Spanish superclub’s firepower at International Stadium Yokohama.

“He and everyone else who didn’t play, Neymar and Douglas”, Marca quotes Suarez as saying after he scored a hat-trick in the 3-0 win.

Star striker Lionel Messi missed the game because of abdominal pain caused by renal colic.

Barca now go on to play River Plate, who eliminated Sanfrecce Hiroshima in Wednesday’s semi, the champions of Europe and South America meeting on Sunday in Yokohama.

But Messi refused to rule himself out, posting on his Facebook page: “Great job from the whole team, we’re in the final!”

Li Shuai, who started well in goal for Guangzhou, made the pivotal error as he palmed Ivan Rakitic’s long-range effort straight into the path of Suarez, and he made no mistake with the finish.

“A lot of time has gone by since then and I’ve witnessed his enormous growth, both as a footballer and as a person”, Messi told FIFA.com on Tuesday.

Neymar’s absence could be a slight disadvantage for the Catalan club, but as they still have the likes of Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Luis Suarez, Barca are heavily favored to reach the final. But Enrique also praised his captain Iniesta. He has been playing at a very high level for many years but he has improved since he joined us. “It was a complete display”.

Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao coach Luiz Felipe Scolari feels his side should be proud of its performance against Barcelona irrespective of their 3-0 defeat, stressing they still did better than Real Madrid last month.

Barca technical director Robert Fernandez insisted no risks would be taken over Messi.

“These games against opponents you do not usually meet always generate doubts, especially as they have Brazilian players with quality, and we have played a really good game”.

Former Brazil and Portugal coach Scolari, however, revels in knockout competitions and is a master in the art of spoiling tactics.