Barcelona better than ever, says Messi

YOKOHAMA, Japan: Lionel Messi believes the current Barcelona side has more weapons than Pep Guardiola’s 2009 world-beaters and wants to prove it by winning a record third Club World Cup.

The Spanish giants, who have captured the Champions League, Spain’s La Liga, the Copa del Rey and European Super Cup this year, take on China’s Guangzhou Evergrande Thursday for a place in the tournament final in Yokohama on December 20.

“It’s one of my favourite competitions,” said Messi, favourite to win his fifth Ballon d’Or in January.

“It gives you the opportunity to round off the year in the best possible way. These titles are an indelible legacy in the history of the club. It’s something very important.

“It’s been an amazing year,” the Argentina wizard told fifa.com in the build-up to Barca’s clash against Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Guangzhou.

“That time when we won everything under Guardiola looked unrepeatable. We genuinely weren’t sure if we’d get close to that again. (But) here we are. Now what’s left for us to do is end the year in the best possible way and make it unforgettable.”

Barring an upset in Wednesday’s first semi-final between Libertadores Cup holders River Plate and Japan’s Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Messi will come face to face with the side which almost signed him as a teenager in his native Argentina.

Remarkably, Messi has only once previously played against an Argentine club, when Barcelona beat Estudiantes 2-1 in the 2009 Club World Cup final. Two years later Barca smashed four past Brazil’s Santos, which featured current team-mate Neymar.

“I’ve witnessed (Neymar’s) enormous growth, both as a footballer and as a person,” said Messi. “Back then he was already a great player and now he’s much more complete.”

Messi gave an insight into how the Spanish league leaders have evolved under Luis Enrique, who relies less on the “tiki-taka” style of short, intricate passes than Guardiola.

“We’ve become a more vertical (direct) team,” said Messi. “Of course, we’ve not lost our ideology of keeping hold of the ball.”