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The Blaugrana superstar praised the thick friendship among the Barcelona players as the key to their incredible run in 2015. The Catalan giants have won five major trophies this year, with the latest being the FIFA Club World Cup yesterday.

Barcelona complete glorious 2015 with Club World Cup triumph over River Plate

Messi talked about the friendly atmosphere in the dressing room and hailed all players for standing for each other.

"We have a fantastic relationship in the dressing room. We have been playing together for a long time and that helps us. Our group is stronger because of this familiarity." The Argentine spoke after winning the coveted trophy for the third time.

"We have been playing together for quite a long time and it has helped us to understand better", Messi added.

With the win against River Plate in the final, Barcelona became the only club to win the global trophy three times. Luis Suarez and Messi found the back of the net against River Plate, in what looked like a one-sided match.

The champions of Europe came out top as expected, as Sergio Ramos and Gareth Bale powered them to Real Madrid's fourth Club World Cup. The European giants managed to leave Morocco without any problems at all.

Real Madrid [Image from flickr by Global Panorama]

Keeping two clean sheets and scoring six goals from open play. The rhythm, synchrony, and flamboyance were visible throughout the tournament. Carlo Ancelotti may have just become the greatest coach of all time, as he joined Pep Guardiola and Carlos Bianchi in winning two different Club World Cup titles with two different sides.

Credit to finalists San Lorenzo who impressed and got their tactics spot on. They just face a side with a lot more quality. Auckland City managed to come third and the Oceania champions were unfortunate not to make the final. They will remember this tournament fondly and will be the heroes of the tournament. All hail the Kings of the world, Real Madrid, The Galacticos.

BAYERN'S BUNDESLIGA

Bayern Munich [Image from flickr by Suzanne]

Borussia Dortmund remain in the drop zone after Naldo equalized late. The match looked finished as Italian forward Cerci Immobile managed a thunderous strike from outside the area. Borussia Dortmund have been a disappointment and are miles away from the side that handed Bayern Munich their First defeat of the year in the Super Cup. Dortmund finished top in their Champions League and may do with their European form. Next they face a clash against Werder Bremen who were at the end of a 4-1 thrashing from Borussia Monchengladbach. Paderborn visit Stuttgart as their early season form has dissipated. They lost to Schalke 04. The game of the round belonged to Bertha Berlin and Eintracht Frankfurt who played to an 8 goal sizzler. Talk about vulnerable defenses. The Bundesliga is proving to be a battle of two types of teams, Bayern Munich and the rest. The Bavarians are cruising.

COPA DEL REY



Some mouth watering clashes in the next round as Atletico Madrid face holders Real Madrid. A double from Croatian Mario Mandzukic helped semi finalists to a comprehensive win over Hospitalet. Barcelona the pick of this round as Huesca was put to the sword. An aggregate score of 12-1 was enough to set up match against Elche. Elche managed to sneak in a 1-0 win over Real Valladolid. Finnbogason helped former Manchester United boss David Moyes' Real Sociedad side cruise into the last 16 with a double. An exciting round is waiting for us.

FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP



San Lorenzo managed to win after extra time as they set up a dream clash against Real Madrid. A match that was dour for 90 minutes, all of a sudden decided to get exciting and it changed, with a total of three goals being scored at the end. They will now be the second Argentine side in a FIFA tournament final and are likely to lose. No side has quite impressed like the Champions league winners and it will take a festive miracle to see an upset.

Article contributed by: Benedict Chanakira

Barcelona completely obliterated Huesca as they marched on into the next round of the Copa del Rey. Real Madrid were in Cruz mode as they thrashed Mexican side Cruz Azul.

Cruz Azul v Real Madrid

A goal each from Gareth Bale, Isco, Sergio Ramos and three time French player of the year Karim Benzema saw them home comfortably and have one hand on the FIFA Club World Cup. Cristiano Ronaldo provided two assist as Carlo's man faced no problems. Iker Casillas managed a clean sheet for the first time in the competition having conceded five goals previously. A penalty save from Gerardo Torrado who is the top scorer in the tournament, his second in the week made it all sweeter.

Two relegation threatened sides faced off against each other and managed to provide an entertaining contest. Hamburg and Stuttgart faced off as the bottom side managed a win thanks to a horrendous error from Behrami which saw Klein find the bottom of the corner off a Maxim pass. It was a tough match and Stuttgart had to hang on in the end as they faced a flurry of attacks from the Hamburg side. The win took them off them off the bottom and out the drop zone. Hanover managed to break a four game losing streak by giving Augsburg their second defeat in a week.

At the other end Bayern have extended the lead to twelve in the Bundesliga, and are cruising. The Bavarians have also just conceded three goals in sixteen matches. Their defense and Manuel Neuer are usually passengers in most contests. FC Kiln failed to beat Mainz and remain in mid table.

The Bundesliga will stay with Pep Guardiola's men, Real Madrid set to lift Club World Cup as Barcelona look to continue their identity search.

Article contributed by: Benedict Chanakira

Twitter: @bchanakira2

Before the FIFA Club World Cup existed, European and South American teams played the Intercontinental Cup. This cup was played between the winners of the UEFA Champions League and the CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores. Since 2000, FIFA organizes a tournament that includes teams from every continent. Anyways, the winners have been always European and South American teams. One could think that European teams have a wide advantage above American teams, but in history, some examples have proven those opinions wrong.

2014 FIFA Club World Cup

The FIFA Club World Cup has been played 10 times; 4 of the competition winners are Brazilian teams, while the other 6 are European teams.

In 2012, Chelsea won their first Champions. At the end of the year, they went to Japan with the expectation of winning their first Club World Cup. The result was not highly expected, and several football analysts were proven wrong when the Brazilian Corinthians won 1-0. Chelsea had excellent players, including Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, John Terry, and Petr Cech. Anyways, Chelsea was unable to win the Final.

So the question we ask ourselves is whether the Cruz Azul or maybe the San Lorenzo are capable of defeating Real Madrid. Could we see another Corinthians-Chelsea result? Probably not. Real Madrid has showed in the last matches how they can beat heavily other teams. In my personal opinion, they have the most impressive team since the last decades. They have strong, precise, intelligent players; even some the substitutes could be considered “cracks.”

Marco Fabián, a Cruz Azul striker, said after their victory against Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday that football is played between two teams with eleven players each, and everything could happen. Other aspects could affect the game of Real Madrid. For example, the heavy rains that have fallen in Morocco could damage the development of the game, making more difficult the creation of opportunities and goals.

The beauty of football is that anything could happen. Obviously, probability plays a part in the definition of a match, but Real Madrid would need to do their best to defeat highly motivated teams like the Cruz Azul or San Lorenzo.

Article contributed by: Eduardo

Twitter: @Edu_Lobl

FIFA Club World Cup [Image from FIFA.com]

The best club champions in the world: The Club World Cup. It is not a true reflection of the best clubs in the world. Barcelona and Corinthians are the most successful sides in this competition having won the trophy twice each. This year Morocco hosts the tournament and the favorites are the mighty Real Madrid. The Galacticos are on a 19 game winning streak and from any angle you look at it, they look unbeatable, Led by a front line which boasts Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale. The competition commenced on the 10th of December and opened up with a thrilling penalty shootout as Auckland City won 4-3 against a resilient Moghreb Tétouan in the Playoff Quarter final.

The hosts battled for a quarter final spot with the Oceania champions and this year the hosts are out early. Auckland City progressed and will face Algerian and African champions ES Setif . The first professional side in Algeria (2010), and have contributed to Algeria being the best team in Africa. Being favorites, they are likely to progress to the semi-finals. A win will see them meet South American champions San Lorenzo who will enter at this stage along with Real Madrid. The other quarterfinal will see Western Sydney Wanderers who are the champions of AFC Champions League. Wanderers who are Asian champions averted boycotting the tournament. There was a pay dispute between the players and the club. Despite the issue not fully being dealt with they arrived in Morocco in poor form with a cloud hanging over the club after Tony Popovic their coach received a two game ban in the Asian  Champions League. They take on Cruz Azul, the Mexican are favorites going into the clash and will rely heavily on midfielder Gerardo Torrado. The Cementers as they are known in Mexico take on the Asian Champions the for a dream match against Carlo Ancelotti's giants.

This looks to be another trophy for Carlo Ancelotti and it sees the year ends on a high for the European Champions. Could there be a surprise in the brewing? San Lorenzo the Copa Libertadores champions are the best chance. The Argentineans are coming into the tournament in a downward spiral and fans hope the occasion will spur inspiration, motivation and a drive to perform. Could we get an upset result against the star studded Real Madrid side? By 20 December the truth will be known to us all.

Article contributed by: Benedict Chanakira

Twitter: @bchanakira2