Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 8y

Luis Enrique optimistic over Barcelona duo Lionel Messi and Neymar

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique says he is "optimistic" that Lionel Messi and Neymar will be able to play in Sunday morning's World Club Cup final against River Plate.

Both Neymar and Messi missed Thursday's 3-0 semifinal win over Asian champions Guangzhou Evergrande, with the Brazilian still recovering from an adductor muscle problem, and the Argentine laid low with a painful renal colic issue.

But the pair appear set to feature in Sunday's decider in Yokohama, with Messi reported to have passed a kidney stone, and he and Neymar training with their teammates on Saturday.

Speaking before that session, the Blaugrana coach suggested at the prematch news conference that he expected to see both South Americans on the pitch, even if they were not quite in full condition.

"I am always optimistic," Luis Enrique said. "There is still today's training session, many hours left. The quality of any Barca player means they can play without being at 100 percent, they could play at 99 per cent. We will see."

Barca are playing in the showpiece tournament as Champions League holders, and Luis Enrique said he and his team were very motivated to add the trophy to those already won earlier in 2015.

"To win tomorrow is very attractive for us, I see the same motivation in my players as in any other team," he said. "We are very excited about this trophy, it shows the best team of the season, it would be the cherry on top, it's a big objective for us."

Asked about the current Copa Libertadores holders, who can call on ex-Barca and Real Madrid striker Javier Saviola [now 34], Luis Enrique also mentioned a number of individuals including soon to be Atletico Madrid midfielder Matias Kranevitter.

"They have Carlos Sanchez, [Rodrigo] Mora, [Lucas] Alario, Kranevitter, my ex-teammate Saviola," he said. "River have individual players, but even more they play as a team."

The Argentine side will be cheered on by an estimated 20,000 fans at the International Stadium in Yokohama, while the travelling Barca contingent will be much less, but the Barca boss said he was not worried about an atmosphere against his side.

"I know that River have brought many fans," Luis Enrique said. "The more atmosphere there is, the better. The more noise, the better."

Luis Enrique also played down a reporter's suggestion that River would look to turn the game into a physical battle which might suit them better.

"I do not expect River to be especially hard, they like to get on the ball," he said. "I don't think they will look for anything else, I am very relaxed about that. River will go out to play football. Then each team uses the weapons they have, everyone knows how Barca play.

"If we can use our virtues, the opponents will suffer more. We will have the ball up top, press, we want to create chances."

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