Barcelona and Guangzhou Evergrande prepare for FIFA Club World Cup semi-final.

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• published: 21 Dec 2015
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RESENDING WITH FULL SCRIPT Luis Enrique says Barcelona are taking the FIFA Club World Cup seriously as the European champions prepare to face Luiz Felipe Scolari's Guangzhou Evergrande in their semi-final in Yokohama, Japan. SHOWS: YOKOHAMA, JAPAN (DECEMBER 16, 2015) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) La Liga leaders Barcelona trained in Japan's Yokohama Stadium on Wednesday (December 16) as they attempt to win a record third FIFA Club World Cup title. Barcelona will face Luiz Felipe Scolari's full repertoire of spoiling tactics when they meet the Brazilian coach's Guangzhou Evergrande team in their Club World Cup semi-final on Thursday (December 17). Barcelona won the tournament in 2009 and 2011 and they are clear favourites to win again. "We have gone though a lot of hardship to get here, so it is a very important title for us; and that is true for the manager, for the players and also for the president of the club," Barcelona's head coach Luis Enrique said in a news conference on Wednesday. The European champions will be without injured striker Neymar against their Asian counterparts, who are in the semi-finals for the second time in three years following Sunday's (December 13) shock 2-1 win over Mexico's Club America. Barcelona are runaway favourites to win the tournament for the third time in seven years but they know that Scolari is not going to make life easy for them. "You need to stay focused until the very end because they're a strong team. Yes of course. If you lose your focus, you can give away the match in 15 minutes. This is nothing special - the slight moment that you lose your mental focus, that's when the opponent comes in and take the game away from you," Enrique said. On the other hand, Scolari said his team is highly motivated to face the five-times European champions. "I don't intend to give them any special kind of motivation because they are the Asian champions already, and we've also won the match against Club America, so I think they're already motivated with those results," Scolari told reporters at a news conference. A mixture of local Chinese players with a contingent of Brazilians, Guangzhou are unbeaten in 28 games, including 24 since Scolari took charge in June. In that time, they have won both the Chinese league and the Asian Champions League. More comfortable when his team are seen as the underdogs, he often takes the laws of the game to their limits by using tactical fouling to stop the opposition stringing together passes in midfield. "How many clubs in the world would want to have this opportunity that we're going to have tomorrow to fight against Barcelona?" Scolari said. South American champions River Plate, with the fanatical backing of thousands of fans who have made the marathon trip from Argentina, meet Sanfrecce Hiroshima, champions of host nation Japan, in the other semi-final in Osaka on Wednesday.