Abu Dhabi: A 41,000-strong crowd at the Zayed Sports City stadium got to see why Lionel Messi at 22 is considered one of the greatest players currently playing football as the Argentine produced magic with his very first touch and helped Barcelona beat Atlante 3-1.
The win now gives Barcelona a chance to win the only trophy they have not won in 100 years as they take on Estudiantes de la Plata from Argentina on Saturday.
With the scores level at 1-1 after Barcelona were rocked by an early goal, loud cheers greeted Messi when he was brought on in the 53rd minute.
Two minutes later Messi charged into the box to latch on to a pass from Ibrahimovic and beat Federico Vilar to put his team ahead.
With the pressure easing off with that lead, Barca midfielder Andreas Iniesta, who was playing here on this ground after six years when Spain were beaten by Argentina for the Under-20 World Youth Cup, set up Pedro for the third goal.
Pedro, in scoring that goal, became the first player to score goals in all the six competitions that Barcelona have played so far, winning five of them and ready for the sixth on Saturday
Earlier honours were even at 1-1 with Barcelona dominating with 75 % of possession in the first half while the Mexicans did put up a resolute fight.
With Pep Guardiola starting the match without both Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi, the majority at the Zayed Sports City Stadium who were rooting for the Catalan giants, were a bit disappointed.
Soon that turned to shock when Atlante scored in the very fifth minute. A long defensive clearance caught the Barca defence back-pedalling and Guillermo Rojas lobbed over an advancing Victor Valdes and then swiftly moved in himself to direct the ball home.
The champions, unperturbed, resumed their business with their short passing game which pegged back the Mexican side to their own area for long periods.
Federico Vilar, in with a chance of doing duty for Argentina in next year's World Cup, did well to save a brilliant header from Sergio Busquets while Zlatan Ibrahimovic's booming free-kick sailed over the bar.
Busquets however made up for his earlier miss when he a flagkick by Xavi was headed on to his path by Yahya Toure and the Barca midfielder fired home for the equalizer.
Barca continued to press, saw more of the ball but just could not score again until Messi stepped in to change everything.
The score could have been bigger but for some fine saves by Vilar, who now gets another chance to impress Argentina coach Diego Maradona when Atlante take on Pohang Steelers in the third-place play-off match before Saturday's final.
