Jordi Alba isn’t downplaying the prestige of the Club World Cup, the Barcelona left-back keen to win the trophy but warning of difficulties.
Barca are in Japan for the competition and play Guangzhou Evergrande on Thursday, the Chinese side having seen off Club America in their quarter-final meeting.
“It’s a short tournament but we will do what we’re doing in the League, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League,” Alba said, Marca reports.
“It’s the only trophy I’m missing. Some of my teammates have it already but they want to win it as much as I do.
“But first we have to try to reach the final, which will be very difficult. [Guangzhou are] a difficult opponent that we will study in the next few hours.
“People think that we’re going to go through but [the close 2009 final against Estudiantes] shows that it is difficult. They’re a team that has silenced a lot of mouths. We know they run a lot to win back the ball, pushing very high.”
Alba elaborated on the threat posed by Guangzhou, who include former Real Madrid forward Robinho in their number, before touching on one of Barca’s own Brazilians, the injured Neymar.
“They have quality players who can make things complicated. We don’t downplay the importance of this trophy,” he insisted.
“If Barca play it, it’s even more important. Hopefully we win it. It’s a short but important tournament that we all want to win and hopefully we can.
“We know how important Neymar is. He’s one of the three best players in the world today and we know what he brings on the wing but Barca has the capacity to qualify with the players who are fit.
“We have a big squad but Neymar is very important to us.”
