Barcelona 3-0 Guangzhou: Luis Suarez hat-trick fires Barca into FIFA Club World Cup final

Luis Suarez netted a hat-trick against Guangzhou Evergrande as Barcelona eased into the FIFA Club World Cup final with a 3-0 win in Yokohama.

Suarez pounced on an error by Guangzhou's goalkeeper to net his first after 39 minutes, before adding two more after the break, with his third coming from the penalty spot.

Lionel Messi and Neymar were absent for Barcelona, but Luis Enrique will hope to have both available for the final against Argentine side River Plate on Sunday.

Barcelona dominated possession in the early stages but there was no way through their opponent's compact defence, which had been set up by Luiz Felipe Scolari to try and keep the Spanish side out for as long as possible, while occasionally hitting them on the break.

Andres Iniesta dominated midfield and nearly put Suarez and Munir El Haddadi in twice with superb passes in behind, but Barcelona remained frustrated until six minutes before half-time. 

Li Shuai, who started well in goal for Guangzhou, made the pivotal error as he palmed Ivan Rakitic's long-range effort straight into the path of Suarez, and he made no mistake with the finish.

And soon after half-time it was 2-0, thanks to some brilliant work from Iniesta. Barcelona's captain picked the ball up 25 yards from goal before and lifting a superb pass over the top into the path of Suarez, who did well to chest it down and poke the ball past Li.

There was no way back for Guangzhou from there, and Suarez put the icing on the cake from the spot after 67 minutes, following Huang Bowen's foul on Munir in the box.