The Evening Post

Sep 9, 2010

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Barcelona on verge of greatness

Barcelona team

By AFP
AFP
Coach Rijkaard has put together the world’s best team since arriving at Camp Nou in 2003

YOKOHAMA Frank Rijkaard’s feared Barcelona can lay claim to greatness tomorrow by winning the team’s first Club World Cup.
Victory against Brazil’s Internacional would outdo Johan Cruyff’s famed dream team, which was beaten by Sao Paulo in the equivalent fixture in 1992.
The European champions lit up International Stadium Yokohama on Thursday when 62,000 watched Ronaldinho and Deco cut Mexico’s Club America to pieces.
Any doubts that Barcelona were favourites for the title quickly faded as Rijkaard’s men put four unanswered goals past the CONCACAF champions.
“They have pace, skill and imagination,” observed America coach Luis Fernando Tena.
“I don’t think Inter will beat them. Compared to what I saw from Inter and what I saw today, Barcelona is by far the stronger team.”
Former AC Milan midfielder Rijkaard, who can become the first European to win the title as a player and a coach, has put together what is already touted as the world’s best team since arriving at the Camp Nou in 2003.
After a rocky start, Barcelona finished second in La Liga that season and come to Japan as two-time defending Spanish champions.
A 2-1 win over Arsenal at Stade de France in May sealed the second European title in Barcelona’s history, matching the exploits of Cruyff’s Ronald Koeman, Pep Guardiola, Michael Laudrup and Hristo Stoichkov.
Now with the exceptional Deco and Ronaldinho, rumoured to be set for a record third consecutive World Player of the Year award next week, Rijkaard has the creative talent to go one better.
Eidur Gudjohnsen and Ludovic Giuly are able replacements for injured forwards Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi, and the back four of Carlos Puyol, Rafael Marquez, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Gianluca Zambrotta are second to none.
However Rijkaard warned his still jet-lagged players had much to improve before they face the South American champions.
“I don’t think everything we did was good today – we’ll have to make a few changes,” he said after Thursday’s semi-final.
“Our goalkeeper had plenty to do in the first half. That’s something we’ll have to improve. My team needed quite a while to find their rhythm.”
Rijkaard will be especially wary of Inter’s Alexandre Pato, the pacy 17-year-old tipped as the next big thing in Brazilian football after scoring in both his professional matches so far.
Pato has already caught the attention of Ronaldinho, another product of Porto Alegre who was nurtured by Inter’s city rivals Gremio.
“My friends in Porto Alegre have told me about Pato,” Ronaldhino said. “They said he’s a very good player with very good qualities, and very skillful.”
Ronaldinho, 26, was bracing for a fierce reception from the Inter fans in the stadium where he lifted the 2002 World Cup.
“I know the Inter supporters will boo me but also the Gremio fans will want Barcelona to win,” he said.
“I will be a Gremio supporter all my life but here I’m going to play against Inter as if I was a normal rival. It’s more important because it’s the final, not because it’s Inter.”
Inter can also call on Luiz Adriano, Pato’s 19-year-old room-mate who nodded the semi-final winner against Al Ahly, and robust captain Fernandao – “the best player in Brazil”, according to coach Abel Braga.
Inter qualified for the tournament when they won their first Copa Libertadores title in August, beating Sao Paulo 4-3 in the two-legged final.
Sao Paulo won last year’s Club World Cup with a 1-0 victory over Liverpool in the final. (AFP)