Barcelona star Lionel Messi out of Club World Cup semi-final

Barcelona will be favored to win its third Club World Cup in seven years against River, but the Argentine club will lack nothing in terms of support.

Chinese and Asian champions Guangzhou Evergrande were handed a footballing lesson on December 17 as they were easily dispatched by a score of 3-0 to European champions FC Barcelona.

South America’s top players are to play against the team from their continent rather than for them, with Barcelona to meet Club Atletico River Plate in the Club World Cup final tomorrow.

“I don’t know if we will have Neymar and Messi for the final”, Enrique told reporters.

It was not until the 23rd minute that Barca carved out their first clear chance, but Li Shuai was off his line quickly to block Munir El Haddadis effort after a brilliant through-ball from Andres Iniesta.

Suarez and Iniesta are wonderful players, capable of sentencing any game.

Barcelona had to make due to without the services of Lionel Messi due to illness, but Scolari feels his absence did not influence the outcome of the game. The Argentine outfit have been transmogrified into a dominant force by coach and former Argentina global Marcelo Gallardo, under whom they’ve lifted four worldwide trophies, including the continental cup Copa Libertadores of 2015.

“It’s a great challenge for us as we’re facing the best team in the world today, ” he said.

Although most of River’s team have played overseas, it has been far from the glamor of the big clubs.

Barcelona goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was a spectator for much of the game on a cold night but made an acrobatic save from River substitute Gonzalo Martinez seven minutes from time to deny the South Americans a consolation goal. “The last few years have been hard and now we are in a privileged situation”. “We came here to be crowned the world’s best team but in a final there’s always a chance for an upset”.

“River Plate defend very high up the pitch, so hopefully we will be able to exploit the space behind them”.