Ron: Barca determined

Frank Rijkaard's side are hoping to go one better than Johan Cruyff's dream team of the 1990s and become the first Catalan side to win the trophy.

They receive a bye to the semi-final stage of the competition where they will face the winner of a qualification match between Jeonbuk Motors of South Korea and America of Mexico.

The competition could be seen as something of an unwanted distraction for Barcelona, but the Brazilian star is happy to see his team taking part.

He said: "This competition is something that our team has never achieved. To sum it up, this is a great scenario for the end of the year and we are going to give the best of ourselves to end it up in a great way."

If the two-time reigning Spanish champions win that match the semi are likely to face the competition's other seeded team - Internacional de Porto Alegre of Brazil - in the final.

And Rijkaard is also giving a positive slant on the week's event.

"We are getting ready for a very prestigious event. This is a very high level trophy and we feel very happy to be able to participate in it," he commented.