After their superb El Clasico victory over Real Madrid on Saturday, Barcelona has flown to Japan to take part in the Club World Cup and face an opening semi-final against a talented Al-Sadd side (Barcelona 1/33 in the match betting).
Pep Guardiola’s side were truly impressive at the Bernabeu and bounced back from an early setback to beat their great rivals 3-1 and, after a string of good performances in Europe, look like they could once again claim the league and Champions League double (Barcelona 13/8 Champions League outright).
However, their attention now turns to the Club World Cup which they qualified courtesy of winning last season’s Champions League and will understandably be doing all they can to win their second world title in three seasons.
Following Saturday’s triumph, Guardiola is likely to rest a number of his key players for the semi-final but this hardly means he is weakening his team and will still be able to call upon the likes of Thiago, David Villa and Javier Mascherano.
However, the one to watch could be winger Pedro Rodriguez who has lost his place this season and will be desperate to recapture his position in the starting line-up. The talented winger was the star of the 2009 edition of the tournament, netting twice which helped him to become the first player to score in six different competitions in a season.
His form continued onto the international stage as he was one of the stars for Spain when they won the World Cup in South Africa. However, first-team opportunities have been limited this campaign so, with him likely to start, he’ll be desperate to put in a good performance to remind Guardiola of his capabilities and maybe earn a place in the team for the final and beyond.
Al-Sadd (25/1 to win in 90 mins) qualified for the tournament by virtue of wining the Asian Champions League and will be looking to cause an upset after an impressive victory against Tunisian side Esperance. The Qatari side have a number of players who may be familiar to football fans as they boast the likes of Mamadou Niang and Ivory Coast International Abdul Kader Keïta.
However, their big name is arguably former Portsmouth full-back Nadir Belhadj, who has a superb left foot. During his time at Pompey he was courted by a number of the top sides in Europe but chose to move to Qatar where he has flourished and is truly one of the stars of their league.
Despite the Qatari side’s talented players though, the Catalan giants should run out comfortable winners regardless of a likely weakened line-up as they boast plenty of strength in depth – and they should go on to beat Santos in the final (Barca 11/2 to win 4-0).
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