Barcelona are better than ever, says Messi

YOKOHAMA: 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.”

“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. 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 verti cal (direct) team,” said Messi. “Of course, we’ve not lost our ideol ogy of keeping hold of the ball “That’s our priority: to control the play and keep possession. But now we’ve incorporated the idea that, with just a couple of touches we can get in front of the opposi tion’s goal. Before, it was about getting there using more elabo rate build-up play.” The addition of Luis Suarez, with his ability to play off the shoulder of the last defender, has undoubtedly given Barca more thrust.