Barcelona seek Club World Cup title

Barcelona landed in Japan on Monday with a clear target in their minds: bringing the club’s third Club World Cup back to the Camp Nou museum. With a squad full of world-class stars such as Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Andres Iniesta, Cules are expecting nothing but a repeat of their previous successes in 2009 and 2011.

The Catalans are scheduled to face Guangzhou Evergrande in the semifinals on Thursday and, if they can beat the Asian Champions League holders, then the winner of the River Plate versus Sanfrecce Hiroshima clash on Sunday. With all due respect to all other teams that have managed to reach the semifinals, Barca’s overwhelming superiority in terms of squad quality and budget makes them clear favourites for the title.

Luis Enrique will definitely use the change of scenery that comes with the trip to Japan as a chance to put the Blaugranas’ poor form of late to one side. Undoubtedly, having drawn their three consecutive matches has planted a seed of doubt within a Catalan dressing room far too used to winning matches with relative ease. Perhaps more worryingly, players can’t even explain the reasons why they have allowed their rivals back into games which they would have confidently put to bed only a couple of months ago.