He compared Barca’s devastating MSN strikeforce of Messi, Suarez and Neymar to his 2002 trio of Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho. Often Barcelona is talked about as a reference point in the world and now we have the chance to crown ourselves as such.
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The other semi-final is set for tonight between J-League champions Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Argentine powerhouse River Plate.
Neymar did some running in front of the media at the start of practice at the match venue, Nissan Stadium.
The influential Brazilian forward suffered a groin injury in Germany last week during a training session for the Champions League match with Bayer Leverkusen, which ended 1-1.
“We played so hard against America because we wanted to win so badly and earn the opportunity of playing against Barcelona”, he smiled.
Although Alba was quick to recognise Neymar’s quality, he believes Barca have shown they have enough strength in depth to cover for the loss of any star player.
“It’s a short competition, but we’ll try to perform as we’ve been doing in the league, the Champions League and Copa del Rey”, he added.
“Alves backed Barcelona manager Luis Enrique to win FIFA’s coach of the year award, ahead of Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola.”Luis Enrique has won all of the most important titles this year”.
Scolari will field Brazil icon Robinho in Yokohama but knows his side face an uphill task.
“He has the potential to be the best player in the world in the next five years but Barcelona have 25 Neymars”. Barca players posed briefly for photos and signed autographs for fans, with Messi and Andres Iniesta drawing their loudest cheers from a crowd of around 200 mostly local fans.
“We will have to wait and see whether he can play”.
Barcelona center-half Gerard Pique stressed the unique challenges of the competition meant that although his club was favorite to lift the trophy, the players would need to adapt. They would immediately become prohibitive favorites to not only win the Premier League, but also Champions League. “As a team, we’ll give our all and hopefully fulfil our expectations”. We have analysed Guangzhou and they are very good on the ball.
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“It’s enjoyable, you live new experiences, and get to know different cultures and ways of understanding football”. In all likelihood, he might not play a part against the Asian champions led by former World Cup winning coach with Brazil Luiz Felipe Scolari.
