Barcelona were mobbed by Japanese fans today after holding their first training session at the Club World Cup.
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The Brazilian superstar suffered a groin injury during training before last week’s Champions League match with Bayer Leverkusen, which ended 1-1.
Barca, who face Guangzhou Evergrande in Thursday’s semi-final, have won La Liga, the Copa del Rey, the Champions League and Uefa Super Cup in 2015. Barcelona were greeted by 226 children from its soccer school in Tokyo when stepping on to the pitch at the Mitsuzawa Stadium in Yokohama.
Barcelona, which is bidding for a third Club World Cup title, is the tournament favourite but the Spanish club has not won in three matches, while Guangzhou is on a 28-match unbeaten run stretching back to May, shortly before World Cup-winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari took charge.
“Obviously Guangzhou have proved they are a strong team”, Barca midfielder Sergio Busquets told reporters. “We’ve tried to adapt to the time difference. Now what’s left for us to do is end the year in the best possible way and make it unforgettable”.
That result leaves Real five points adrift of Barcelona at the top of the league, providing the Catalan giants with a tonic after flying 6,600 miles (10,700km) to play in the Far East.
The glut of silverware was embellished by a 2-1 extra-time win over Estudiantes in the 2009 Club World Cup final and Messi, who netted the decisive goal on that occasion, does not believe his teammates will lack for motivation to emulate this success.
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Having played against each other when Neymar was with Brazilian side Santos, Messi now feels the 23-year-old has come on leaps and bounds with his game.
