Suarez's hat trick powers Barcelona rout

Barcelona eased into Sunday’s Club World Cup final as Luis Suarez scored a hat trick in a 3-0 win over Guangzhou Evergrande.

Barca saw Lionel Messi ruled out shortly before the match with renal colic while Neymar, who has just recovered from a groin injury, also played no part, but Luis Enrique’s European champions enjoyed a comfortable win.

“Suarez was spectacular,” Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said. “He is very talented in difficult situations and knows what to do in those situations. We had some injuries to deal with so we had to adjust and he stepped up.”

Suarez put Barcelona ahead just before half-time, hammering in a rebound off Ivan Rakitic’s long-range effort that was parried by goalkeeper Li Shuai.

The striker made it 2-0 five minutes after the break when he controlled a pass from Andres Iniesta off his chest and beat Li with a brilliant right-footed volley.

He put the result beyond doubt with a penalty kick after Huang Bowen took Munir El Haddadi down in the area. That strike made the Uruguayan the first player to score a hat trick in the competition since Pele netted three for Santos against Benfica in 1962’s Intercontinental Cup.

Barca will face Argentine side River Plate on Sunday as they look to become the first club to win the competition three times, having previously lifted the trophy in 2009 and 2011.

Evergrande will play Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the third-place playoff.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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