CWC Semi-Finals

More about the CL draw later today, but Barca's last match was early Thursday morning against Al-Saad, the Asian Champions League winners in the Semi-final of the Club World Cup in Japan. Guardiola has said both this year and in their last appearance that he takes this competition very seriously (although as champions of Europe they are placed directly in the semi-finals) because of how difficult it is to get to play for this trophy.

The last time Barca was in the CWC, was two years ago, when they famously won 6 out of 6 competition trophies in a single year. Pedro also made history that year becoming the first player to score in all 6 competitions in a single year, a feat Lionel Messi is looking to accomplish should he score in the final against Santos of Brazil.

Barca trotted out to a 4-0 victory, barely breaking a sweat but it was costly. David VIlla, who was arguably the most energetic of all the players on the pitch suffered a broken leg while chasing down a ball. The injury wasn't as gruesome on camera as i had expected, but none the less Villa is world class, and having him missing from the line up for 4-5 months will be a blow as Barca compete in 5 different competitions. Alexis Sanchez, who came in for the injured Villa was pulled later in the game with a muscle injury and is questionable for the final. To any team, losing two attackers can be devastating, but with Barcelona they simply throw another body in place and the system will provide. Behind Villa and Sanchez in the pecking order is young Issac Cuenca, and if necessary Cesc Fabregas can be pushed up front, where he has had success in his first year back with Barca.

With Villa out until April, you have to wonder how worth it this CWC Cup is to Pep Guardiola, Sando Rosell and the Barcelona board. Their mission of expanding their brand worldwide may have just cost them the season and possibly the career of the most prolific striker in the history of Spanish football. I haven't seen anything from Vincente Del Bosque yet, but i cannot imagine he feels the same way about a 2 game tournament in Japan as Guardiola and Rosell do.