A weakened Barcelona outclassed Al Sadd 4-0 at the Club World Cup yesterday to set up a final clash with Santos, but the result was overshadowed by a serious injury to striker David Villa.

The Spanish international could be out for at least six months after he was stretchered off with what Bar-celona said was a fractured left tibia.

“He broke his bone so he will be returning to Barcelona as soon as possible,” said a sombre Pep Guardiola, the coach of Barca.

“It will take some time to return to the team. I’m very sad to say this. It’s very unfortunate.

“I was talking to the other players in the changing room and saying that to recover from a broken bone takes time.”

Guardiola added that Javier Mascherano and Alexis Sanchez, who replaced Villa on 39 minutes, also picked up injuries, but was unable to say how serious they were.

And he added of the 30-year-old Villa: “He’s going back to Spain to have an operation. Missing him is a blow to our team. We are very sad and hope that he will recover as quickly as possible.”

Guardiola left Xavi, Dani Alves, Cesc Fabregas and Gerard Pique out of his starting 11, but it hardly mattered as the Qataris, the Asian champions, were torn apart.

As anticipated, it was all Barcelona from the off at a packed International Stadium in Yokohama, near Tokyo, in a game that felt more like an exhibition match than a competitive fixture for the 66,298 fans.

Brazilian Adriano hit a brace for Barcelona with the other goals coming from Seydou Keita and substitute Maxwell.

Playing on Sunday

Third place play-off: 8.30 a.m. Kashiwa Reysol vs Al Sadd; Final: 11.30 a.m. Santos vs Barcelona.