Chinese champions Guangzhou Evergrande in Yokahoma, scoring a hat-trick to send Barcelona through to the Club World Cup final against River Plate on Sunday.
With
less than two hours before the game it was announced that Messi was ill
with severe abdominal pain and couldn't play, leaving Suarez as the
only one of Barcelona's attacking trident fit to start against Luiz
Felipe Scolari's side, who had gone 24 games unbeaten before this.
Barcelona
are in this competition as champions of Europe and it was technically
Suarez's goal which won it for them in Berlin against Juventus, a moment
he relived in this clash.
Then
it was Messi's strike which was parried for the striker to fire home
instinctively, this time Ivan Rakitic's shot was repelled and Suarez
reacted first, blasting home and celebrating wildly.
It
gave Luis Enrique's team a breakthrough which they didn't much deserve,
with the Catalans playing within themselves at the start. Only the
magical Andres Iniesta was near his best, creating three clear chances
for Barcelona which were not finished.
The
first saw him slide in Munir El Haddadi, with the youngster's shot well
saved by Shuai Li, who was out of his goal quickly to deny him.
Another
fine Iniesta pass put Dani Alves in around the back of the defence, but
again the goalkeeper was out quickly enough to deal with the danger.
And Iniesta's third contribution was a sparkling dribble and cross from the left, with Munir heading the ball wide of the post.
The
veteran playmaker took to the field with a mohican, a strange haircut
for someone who usually isn't interested in such things - so it wasn't
just his wing play that was reminiscent of Neymar.
Barcelona's
Brazilian, on the bench after his groin injury, was remembered by
Suarez as he celebrated his first goal, pointing his fingers up to
signal the No 11, Neymar's shirt.
Guangzhou
built some attacks of their own towards the end of the first half, with
striker Elkeson superbly denied by Claudio Bravo, as he angled a header
towards the bottom left corner.
Paulinho
also went close, but Gerard Pique blocked his header, as the former
Tottenham man tried to put his side level before the interval.
Guangzhou
also suffered a blow late in the half, when defender Zou Zheng suffered
a severe injury after challenging for the ball in his own box with Dani
Alves and losing his footing. He was taken off on a stretcher and early
reports suggest he has a broken leg.
If
Scolari and his men thought they had a chance of turning things around
in the second period, it was soon ended by the Iniesta and Suarez
partnership after just five minutes.
Suarez
played a short pass to his team-mate before darting into the box.
Iniesta looked for his run and lofted an inch-perfect pass over the top,
which Suarez controlled on his chest and then volleyed past the
goalkeeper, without the ball touching the ground.
That
was game over for Guangzhou, with Suarez’s celebration on the touchline
seeing him run over to Neymar, perhaps to tell the Brazilian not to
bother straining himself by coming on.
Munir
earned a debateable penalty a few minutes later, after going down easily
in the box under pressure from Huang Bowen, which Suarez converted to
seal his hat-trick and put a gloss on the scoreline.
He
is the first player to net three goals in one match in this
competition, with only Pele managing it in the Intercontinental Cup,
which was the predecessor to the Club World Cup.
The
Uruguayan is brutally effective and showed just how lucky Barcelona are
to have him. He’s a player most would build a team around, but with
Messi and Neymar on the scene that won’t happen at the Camp Nou.
He is brutally effective in front of goal, and here he has a 100 per cent conversion rate. Three shots, three goals.
Some
River Plate fans managed to get tickets for the game and sang loudly
and proudly about their team, but by the end left chastened; even a
Barcelona without two key players and not at their best will be an
incredibly tough proposition for their side to topple on Sunday in the
final.
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