Barcelona became the first club in the history of world football to win six competitive tournaments within one calender year. They had already bagged La Liga, Copa Del Rey, UEFA Champions League, Supercopa De Espanya and the UEFA Super Cup going into todays FIFA World Club Cup Final against Estudiantes.
It was the Argentines who struck first, with the Catalan rear guard looking frail once again. Juan Diaz put in an inch perfect cross from the left and Mauro Boselli got in between his two markers, Eric Abidal and Carles Puyol, to bury his header past Victor Valdes. The goal came totally against the run of play but the half time score remained 1-0 to Estudiantes.
Pep Guardiola responded by introducing Pedro on the wing but Barcelona couldn’t find the goal they needed. Ibrahimovic and Pedro went closest, both spurning good chances when in on goal. However, Barcelona were not to be denied, as Gerard Pique headed on a long ball from Ibrahimovic to Pedro, who made no mistake in looping his header over the keeper and into the goal in the 89th minute. This meant the game would be decided by extra time or penalties.
Barcelona dominated the extra period, with Messi curling a free kick over the bar, and the Argentine and Ibrahimovic both failing to hit the target with further openings. The goal was to eventually come in the 110th minute, as Dani Alves’ pin-point cross picked out Messi, who lunged forward to divert the ball into the goal with his chest.
In the Post-Match press conference, a journalist jokingly asked Pep Guardiola if the team had been practising Messi’s chested goal routine. “Oh we’ve been training that routine every single day” Pep replied. “In fact at half time I took Leo aside and told him I wanted a goal from him from that came from his heart. He scored that goal with his heart.”
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