Third Time Lucky For Barca; Barca - 2, Estudiantes - 1

FC Barcelona won the 2009 World Club Cup by defeating South American Champions, Estudiantes by two goals to one. Estudiantes went ahead in the first half through Bosselli's goal, Barca left it late to grab an equaliser. Actually the equaliser came in the 88th minute from Pedro's header and Lionel Messi scored a rather beautiful goal with his chest in the second half of second half, to gift Barca their first triump at World stage. With this triump, Barca have won six trophies in 2009. Estudiantes might have been hard done for a momentary lapse of cocentration late in the second half, but Barca were the best team overall. With Iniesta absent Guardiola chose a midfield which had Xavi and Keita along with Busquets.Busquets was preferred Bosellionce again ahead of Toure but overall Toure had greater authority on the match than Guardiola's favourite. Messi, Ibrahmovic and Henry lined up in the offence. The defense had the familiar look with Alves, Puyol, Pique and Abidal lining up together.

Both teams started the match firmly. Estudiantes had a great chance in the fifth minute, Veron who looks like have improved a lot in recent years put Enzo Perez through with a great ball, but Valdes was quick to come off his line block the ball. In the 10th minute Barca had their first chance; Ibrahmovic put Xavi through on goal but he instead of going for the goal tried to square the ball to Henry and the move was eventually closed out. Meanwhile Estudiantes continued with their rather physical approach to the game and referee allowed them to play such a style. That means Barca players were at the receiving end of a lot number of physical fouls. In the 27th minute Veron had a shot from outside the box go wide. In the 35th minute Barca had a great shout for penalty, Xavi was brough down by Albil but the referee decided to look the other way. Then in the 37th minute Estudiantes went ahead; Enzo Perez sent in a great cross into the box, Boselli got inbetween Puyol and Abidal and sent the header into the right corner of the goal. Puyol completely missed the ball. Barca couldn't muster any chances for the rest of half as Estudiantes were keen only to defense.

The second half saw Barca with more vigour to force a favourable result. Guardiola brought in Pedro for Keita and that meant Messi would play a roaming role in middle. In the 48th minute saw his shot go just wide of the far post. In the 61st minute Alves had a great chance; Messi whipped in a great cross from left which the keeper couldn't reach but Alves failed to connect. In the 69th minute Xavi sent a ball to Pedro he skipped past two defenders but his final shot was blocked by keeper's foot. Guardiola brought in Jeffren for Henry in the 83rd minute. In the 89th minute Xavi sent in to the box, the ball ballooned from a defenders' head, Pique did well to win a header and it fell to an unmarked Pedro who looped his header over the advancing keeper's head to take the match to extra time. Extra time was a single side affair. Estudianted were shattered by the late equaliser and Barca were constantly bombarding their goal mouth. Messi and Ibra both had chances in the first half of extra time. But we were abvle to break the Estudiantes resolve in the 110th minute. Alves sent in a great cross into the box from the right which Messi managed to chest past the hapless goal keeper to take Barca 2-1 ahead. That goal shocked Estudiantes further but they came out roaring that resulted in couple of scares towards the end of the match.

This is Barca's second consecutive come-back from behind victory in Club cup. We have been doing this quite often this season but this one was the toughest. At times it looked like the godess of luck was conspiring against Barca but our never say die attitude finally paid off. I read some EPL fans writing that Messi's goal was a hand ball, I would suggest them to see the goal carefully, that was quite a remarkable goal. We were always considered as the best team in the world at this moment and this triumph shuts every doubters mouth. No team in the history of football I guess, has won all the trophies which were in offering in a single year. This is history in making and we would are blessed as we witnessed it with our eyes.

FC Barcelona -3, Atlante -1

FC Barcelona booked their place in the finals of 2009 World Club Cup by beating CONCAAF Champions Atlante 3-1. Barca went down a goal down as early in the fifth minute but strikes from busquest, Messi and Pedro helped Barca to a more than comfortable win. We will now meet South American Champions Estudiantes in the final. The early goal came from a mistake from our defense otherwise we had near perfect control of the game. Pedro while helping Barca win the game recorded history by becoming the first man to score in six different competition in a year. Messi was declared fit prior to the match and he was called upon to win the match for Barca. Guardiola went for a rather defensive midfield in the shape of Toure, Busquets and Xavi. Toure was playing in the role of a attacking midfielder while his usual role of defensive midfielder was done by Busquets. I never understood the logic behind that decision. Toure is a more solid player in defensive midfielder role than Busquets , why you want to take him from his best position. The attacking trio was made up of Ibra, Iniesta and Pedro. The defense had Marquez, Puyol, Alves and Abidal infront of Valdes.

The match started the wrong way for Barca. In the fifth minute we went behind by a goal from Rojas. Marquez failed to deal with a long ball through the middle and Rojas used his pace to get away from the defense and knock it past Valdes. Marquez should have cleared it in the first place. We are making a habit of conceding goals this way. Barca immediately responded with a Busquest header being saved from A Xavi corner. Then we saw a period of game where all the possession was with barca but we lacked pace in our moves and could not create any meaningful threat. The fact that we had two defensive minded players in midfield wasn't helping. Then in the 35th minute Barca broke on the counter and was able to win a corner. Toure did well to rise above the defense to flick Xavi's corner and the ball fell to Busquets who did well with the finish. With scoreline being tied Barca looked more and more calm with their game. In the injury time of the first hald Alves had a great chance to put Barca ahead. From a one-on-one situation he could only hit the side netteing.

Barca looked more determined in the second half. In the 54th minute Guardiola took off Marquez and Toure and brought in Messi and Pique. With that substituition Iniesta moved back to midfield and that started to have an impact on the game. Messi put barca haead in the next minute when he accepted a great ball from Ibrahmovic easily round off the goal keeper. Atlante had a chance to equalise at the other end when Rojas got past Pique but he recovered well to get a block on Rojas shot which was easily held by Valdes. Then in the 67th minute Iniesta dribbled down the left into the box and send in a magical pass to Pedro who did well with his finish. Iniesta's genius was in full display in that move but the problem this season is that he is not showing these form consistently. In the 75th minute Atlante's Marquez got away from Abidal but his shot was saved by Valdes. In the 78th minute who came in for Iniesta had a great chance to get into the scoresheet but he failed to get on the end of Alves cross. In the 88th minute Ibra collected a poor kick from goal keeper and curled the ball but the Mexican recovered to make a spectacular save. The goal keeper denied Messi in the 91st minute with a dive at Mesi's feet.

World Club Championship Preview

FC Barcelona would be looking to win a trophy which has eluded them two tinmes in the past in the World Club Championship in Abu Dhabi. If they manage to do the same then it will be their sixth trophy in a fantastic year. Guardiiola has already highlighted the capturing of this eluding Championship as a priority for Barca. The team has already left for Abu Dhabi and will have their first training session on monday. By courtsey of being the Champions of Europe Barca will have to start their campaign from the semi-final stage. The South American champions also are given the same advantage in the Championship. Most of the time the final comes down to a clash between the best of Europe and South America. Europe with their enormous talent on display is expected to win each of these, but surprisingly the South Americans always had the upper hand.

The FIFA Club World Cup, formerly known as the FIFA Club World Championship, is a football competition contested between the champion clubs from all six continental confederations. The champions of Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Oceania and Africa lock horns for this prestigous trophy along with the host representive. FC Barcelona's opponent in the semi-final will be Atlante football club from Mexico. They have beaten the Auckland City FC to earn a place in the semi-final. In the other semi-finals we hyave the South American champions Estudiantes de La Plata from Argentina facing the Asian Champions Pohang Steelers from Korea.

FC Barcelona eleven is expected to feature some of the youngsters. For the likes of Bojan this could be his last chance to impress a coach who don't think high about him. Milito is another player who may get some playing time after his long lay-off from the game. Guardiola also could pick Pinto ahead of Valdes as the Goal Keeper in the Champioship.