Barcelona beat River Plate 3-0 to lift third Club World Cup title

Barcelona won their third Club World Cup trophy with a 3-0 win over River Plate

Barcelona won the Club World Cup after beating Club Atletico River Plate 3-0 in the final in Yokohama, Japan on Sunday. A goal from Lionel Messi and a brace from Luis Suarez saw the Catalan club win their third Club World Cup title. No other team has won more in the history of the competition since it was founded in 2000.

The goals scored also saw Suarez and Messi become joint top scorers in the history of the competition. It was a game in which both Messi and Neymar played after there were concerns that they would miss the final to recover from a thigh injury and renal colic respectively.

Messi scored the opening goal in the 36th minute when he combined with Neymar and Dani Alves. The Brazilian forward found Messi who passed the ball to Alves on the right. The full back’s cross was then sent to his compatriot who gave it back to Messi inside the box. The Argentine forward took one touch to control it before quickly finding the back of the net with his toe to give Barca a 1-0 lead.

River Plate had been threatening to score on many occasions, with Lucas Alario and Gabriel Mercado coming close in the first half but the Liga club managed to hold on to go into the break leading 1-0.

In the second half, it was the Suarez show as the Uruguayan striker terrorised the River Plate defence a number of times. Less than five minutes into the second half, Suarez made it 2-0 on a counter attack. Sergio Busquets had the ball in midfield and released Suarez with a first-time ball over the River Plate defence. Although Suarez had support on the left, he took the ball towards the box before taking a shot that went through goalkeeper Marcelo Barovero’s legs.

Suarez then scored his second, his fifth in the tournament, when he headed home in the 68th minute from a Neymar cross. The Brazilian sent in a pin-point cross from the left between two defenders and Suarez headed into the top left corner while moving backwards, leaving the goalkeeper rooted to the spot.

Although it was an ill-tempered game with the referee pulling out his yellow card a number of times, Barcelona managed to see off River Plate’s challenge as Messi and Suarez tried unsuccessfully to put Neymar also on the score sheet.

Less than a year after almost getting sacked, Luis Enrique had led his side to a fifth trophy in 12 months, following on from the treble last season and the UEFA Super Cup this season.