Barcelona sauntered into the final of the Club World Cup to face South American champions Santos but their 4-0 victory over Al-Sadd in Yokohama was overshadowed by a broken leg suffered by forward David Villa.
Villa 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.
David Villa Breaks Leg
