{"id":15893,"date":"2011-12-17T23:28:47","date_gmt":"2011-12-17T23:28:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/12\/barca-set-for-showdown-with-santos\/"},"modified":"2011-12-17T23:28:47","modified_gmt":"2011-12-17T23:28:47","slug":"barca-set-for-showdown-with-santos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/17\/barca-set-for-showdown-with-santos\/","title":{"rendered":"Barca set for showdown with Santos"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n\tThe final that the world wanted to see is on. Barcelona\u2019s 4-0 defeat of Al-Sadd on Thursday night means the Spanish giant will face santos on Sunday for the honour of becoming the champion of the Club World Cup.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite barely getting out of second gear and losing striker David Villa to a broken leg, the Catalans cruised to victory over the Asian champions thanks to two goals from Adriano and one apiece from Seydou Keita and Maxwell, and Al-Sadd\u2019s coach Jorge Fossati was magnanimous in defeat.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t“Nobody wants to lose 4-0, but if you\u2019re playing against Barcelona then perhaps it can\u2019t be helped,” the Uruguayan said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t“Barcelona is one level higher than the other teams in this competition. Of course, there is Santos, but I believe that Barcelona are better than them.”<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tVilla suffered a fractured tibia and facing a prolonged injury layoff, but head coach Pep Guardiola maintained that the side would not be thrown off course by the setback.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t“Villa is going back (to Spain) for an operation,” Guardiola said. “We\u2019ll have to play without him to become the champions of the world.”<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tBarca captain Carles Puyol refused to get carried away, and insisted that the final was not going to be easy for the European champions.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t“Two great teams will play and I\u2019m really looking forward to it,” he said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t“Everybody talks about Neymar,” he continued, referring to Santos\u2019 young striker, “but they have many other good and experienced players.”<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tThe 33-year-old did express his admiration for Brazil\u2019s latest star though, paying particular attention to his trademark dribbles.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t“It\u2019s very difficult to mark him and he\u2019s very fast,” Puyol said. “When he has the ball we don\u2019t know whether he\u2019s going to the right or the left.”<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u3000<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More:
\nBarca set for showdown with Santos<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The final that the world wanted to see is on. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nBarca set for showdown with Santos - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/17\/barca-set-for-showdown-with-santos\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Barca set for showdown with Santos - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"The final that the world wanted to see is on.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/17\/barca-set-for-showdown-with-santos\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/17\/barca-set-for-showdown-with-santos\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Barca set for showdown with Santos\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-17T23:28:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/17\/barca-set-for-showdown-with-santos\/\"},\"wordCount\":316,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/17\/barca-set-for-showdown-with-santos\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/17\/barca-set-for-showdown-with-santos\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/17\/barca-set-for-showdown-with-santos\/\",\"name\":\"Barca set for showdown with Santos - 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