adminVilla was stretchered off after 37 minutes of the contest between the champions of Europe and Asia after taking a shot and landing awkwardly, with initial estimates suggesting he will be sidelined for as much as six months with a fractured tibia, possibly missing Euro 2012 as a result.
The injury came sandwiched between two goals from the unlikely figure of left-back Adriano, as the Brazilian exploited some horrendous goalkeeping from Mohamed Saqr to double his career tally for Barcelona in the space of 18 minutes.
Seydou Keita extended Barcelona’s lead with a neat finish on 64 minutes and substitute Maxwell added a fourth win nine minutes remaining as he found Mohamed in lamentably poor form again, but Pep Guardiola was left to rue the serious injury suffered by Villa as his side set up a meeting with Brazilian side Santos.
Five days on from their Clasico victory at Real Madrid, and following a tiring 6 500-mile journey to Japan, Barcelona fielded a strong side with Andres Iniesta prompting in midfield and Lionel Messi, Pedro and Villa reunited in attack.
However, the unlikely hero of the first half was Adriano, who before yesterday’s game had scored just twice in 33 appearances for Barcelona.
After Villa had seen a low effort smartly saved by Al-Sadd’s Mohamed Saqr, the goalkeeper was then responsible for an aberration of an opening goal as his error was exploited to the full by Adriano.
Pedro floated in a deep cross to the back post and, rather unhelpfully, former Portsmouth defender Nadir Belhadj touched the ball back to his keeper. Mohamed should have just whacked the ball clear but instead was caught in two minds, allowing Adriano to steam in and bundle the ball across the line.
Villa, who Guardiola was forced to deny he was ready to sell this week, looked sprightly and had the ball in the net in 34 minutes. However, after laying off a clever pass to Iniesta he had drifted into an offside position when the midfielder’s shot was parried by Mohamed.
The two Spaniards linked up again when Iniesta’s searching pass picked out the run of Villa but, after having a meek shot, the striker suffered what did not immediately appear to be a serious injury, with Alexis Sanchez replacing him in attack.
Just a minute before half-time, and with Al-Sadd failing to offer any kind of a palpable threat, Barca extended their lead as Adriano claimed a second. Mohamed produced an unimpressive clearance and when Thiago took possession he slipped a pass to the Brazilian, who saw his shot squirm past the goalkeeper.
Though Al-Sadd threatened late on when Abdul Kader Keita held off Eric Abidal and Javier Mascherano to get a shot away, the margin of Barcelona’s lead at half-time reflected their expected superiority over the Asian champions.
If he had been a touch subdued during the first half then Messi really came to life in the second as he took firm control of the game. After exhibiting fine close control and pulling one shot just wide, the forward also executed an ambitious overhead kick that failed to hit the target.
Iniesta was also influential, seeing a firm effort blocked by Wesam Abdulmajid, but when Barca did score their third after 64 minutes it was Messi who was the architect. His pass opened up the box for Keita and though the midfielder’s first touch was heavy, his second was gorgeous, rolling the ball the other side of Mohamed and into the far corner.
Al-Sadd were offering little in attack and Barcelona were comfortably camped in the Qatari side’s half. A fourth goal duly arrived with nine minutes remaining as Maxwell raced onto a fine pass from Thiago and fired a shot through the legs of Mohamed, who was at fault once again.
The injury to Villa loomed over the contest, however, and in the final stages both Carles Puyol and Mascherano went down in pain after poor challenges from Al-Sadd substitute Yusef Ali as if to underline that, despite victory, this was a bruising experience for Barca. — Eurosport.
Online Reporter