Messi double secures Club World Cup for all-conquering Barcelona

Lionel Messi

(CNN) -- Lionel Messi scored twice as European champions Barcelona secured the Club World Cup with a 4-0 rout of Brazil's Santos in Yokohama Sunday.

Messi opened Barcelona's account and added their fourth and final goal in a one-sided match against their South American counterparts.

Xavi and Cesc Fabregas scored their other goals in a first-half which saw Pep Guardiola's men 3-0 ahead and in total control.

It is their second Club World Cup title after 2009 and the 13th trophy won since Guardiola took charge at the Camp Nou in 2008.

"We've got a core of very talented players and the secret of our success is simple," he told the official FIFA website.

"We study our opponents closely, use space well, keep control of the ball and move it around very quickly. My players are real competitors and I'm sure they're going to want to keep on going and win more trophies."

The match was billed as a showdown between Santos' Neymar, who inspired their semifinal win over Kashiwa Reysol, and Argentina's Messi.

Villa injury mars Barcelona semifinal win

But the Brazilian teenager was kept quiet and uncharacteristically wasted two second half opportunities.

By contrast, Messi was at his irrepressible best, and set up by Xavi on 17 minutes made no mistake with a chipped finish.

Xavi then struck after a fine run by Dani Alves and Barcelona were 2-0 up and cruising.

Barely half and hour was on the clock when former Arsenal star Fabregas beat Rafael Cabral at the near post, with Xavi again the instigator after an impudent backheel from Messi.

Barcelona were able to coast through the second half as Santos enjoyed their best spell, but it was fitting that Messi added his second with eight minutes left.

Earlier Al Sadd, who lost 4-0 to Barcelona in the semifinals, beat Japanese champions Kashiwa Reysol 5-3 on penalties to take third place at the annual intercontinental tournament after the match had ended scoreless.

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David Villa out for six months after breaking shinbone during Barcelona's Club World Cup semi-final

David Villa faces a long time on the sidelines

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola confirmed David Villa would be sidelined for a "long time" after the Spain striker broke his shinbone in today's 4-0 Club World Cup semi-final victory over Al-Sadd.

Reports in Spain suggest the 30-year-old will be out of action for between four and six months after being carried off on a stretcher six minutes before half-time.

Barca announced soon after that he had suffered a "fracture to the tibia in his left leg", with the player taken to hospital in Yokohama for further tests.

The news comes as a setback not only to Barca but potentially to world and European champions Spain, with their all-time record scorer's availability for Euro 2012 now in doubt.

Guardiola said after the match: "He will now travel to Barcelona as soon as possible. He will be greatly missed as a colleague and as a player. I hope everything goes well.

"He will be a long time. It's a big blow to the team. We just hope that he can play again as soon as possible.

News by The Telegraph


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Hope Solo says DWTS told her she ‘had too much muscle’

Hope Solo

Coming off the high of last summer's second-place finish at the Women's World Cup, U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo and partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy made it to the semi-finals of televised celebrity ballroom dancing spectacle Dancing with the Stars before being eliminated.

Between gossip mongers pushing stories of problems between Solo and Chmerkovskiy and the show's judges upsetting the goalkeeper with their harsh critiques early on in the competition, it was clear that this wasn't always a fun experience for Solo even before it was over. But in her first interview since the end of the competition, Hope said that the show's criticisms of her ran deeper than opinions on dance technique. She told Anderson Cooper:

    "I was told I had too much muscle and I was too intense and wasn't very dainty. Well, hello -- you cast a female professional athlete. Help me get better as a dancer. There's no hard feelings at all. I understand that it's television."

Six of the show's 13 winners have been athletes, but only two of those winners have been female athletes: Kristi Yamaguchi and Shawn Johnson. And the figure skater and Olympic gymnast are much more in line with the judges' narrow vision for "dainty" female dancers than the 5'9" shot stopper, who recently showed off her impressive form in ESPN The Magazine body (read: naked) issue. However, in season four of the show, former boxer Laila Ali (who is 5'10") was also paired with Chmerkovskiy, finished third in the competition and received the first perfect "10" from judge Len Goodman for their rumba dance.

It does seem Solo has calmed down a bit since her reaction to the judging of her final performances got her branded as a "sore loser," though. From People:

    In a video recap of Monday's performances, Solo, 30, complained about her scores: "Sevens? The same thing I got in week one. Kiss my booty," she said, adding, "The scores at this point, the judges at this point mean nothing." The pair were also heard swearing about the judges as they awaited their second set of scores: "F——— 'em," they said, with Solo also tossing in that she didn't even want to look at the panel.

Solo also told Cooper that she was "a little naive" going into the "reality show." It sounds like the same (as well as a few other choice words Hope already used) can be said for the show's producers.

News by Yahoo

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