In a fixture that proved to be nothing more than a procession for the reigning Uefa Champions League holders, two goals from Adriano in the first half sent Pep Guardiola's men on the road to victory. Seydou Keita and Maxwell sealed the win in the second half, but the win was soured by David Villa's injury, with the striker suffering a suspected broken tibia.
Despite a crowd pushing 70,000 inside the stadium, there was a subdued atmosphere cloaking the clash; Barca's incessant and unrelenting possession football muted those in attendance, and with Al Sadd employing a rigid, deep-lying defensive formation, it became a case of what methods the Spanish side could use to break through.
Operating with Lionel Messi, David Villa and Pedro in attack, they built patiently but without real penetration until they were gifted the opening goal on 25 minutes.
Nadir Belhadj foolishly chose to pass the ball back to goalkeeper Mohamed Saqr from close proximity, and the custodian, caught in two minds as to whether to handle the ball, simply contrived to blast his clearance off the body of Adriano and into the net. It was the type of goal any team would be red-faced to concede, and Barcelona do not require offerings of such charity.
Indeed, it was to be the Brazilian full-back's day, as it was he who made it two just before the interval. More slack play from the Mohamed - Belhadj combination saw the latter switch off and allow Thiago to steal the ball from his path. The young midfielder found the run of Adriano infield and he lashed a low shot into the corner, with the goalkeeper again failing to cover himself in any kind of glory.
Then, the one negative from the contest reared its head, as Villa raced onto a through ball and appeared to catch his studs on the turf. He immediately signalled his distress to the bench, and the injury has since been confirmed as a broken tibia, which is a blow not only for club and player, but for the Spain national team, with Euro 2012 just six months away.
The second half continued in precisely the same vein as the first; Barca sprayed the ball around the field, while Al Sadd chased in vain, and it wasn't long before their goal was breached once more.
On 64 minutes, Keita breezed through a gap to meet Messi's glorious through pass and slip his shot past the despairing leg of Mohamed to make it 3-0.
Then Maxwell, who arrived as a substitute, took advantage of non-existent defending from the generous Qataris to lash a shot from an angle that the hapless Mohamed did his level best to allow into the net.
The Catalan giants settled for the win at that point, and can now look forward to sterner opposition on Sunday in the form of Santos and their coveted star Neymar.
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