INIESTA RULED OUT

After the injury setback in the case of striker David Villa, Barcelona have also been dealt with a major blow with the news that Andres Iniesta will be out for up to 2 weeks with an injury sustained in during a recent match with Hospitalet.

The Champions thrashed the lower division side 9-0 in the Copa del Rey match on Thursday, but that was insignificant for Guardiola and Barcelona given that Andres Iniesta will be out for a significant amount of time. Barcelona are already suffering from a number of injury problems this season and the injury to the Spanish midfielder only adds to their woes.

Andres Iniesta was crucial in helping Barcelona get off to a great start in the match, but some had to be stretchered off after suffering a horrible collision with goalkeeper Carlos Craviotto. The team may have won by one of the greatest ever scores, but Guardiola said after the match that he was more concerned about the injury to Andres Iniesta.

It was not long ago that Andres Iniesta was regarded as one of the best players in the world. However, he has been affected by a number of injury problems of late, a sign that he has not even made it into the top three for the Ballon d'Or awards. His teammates Lionel Messi and Xavi will be representing Barcelona in the first week of January for this prestigious award.

"We went for the ball, and never let our guard down. I did not want our team to slip up. We wanted to put the triumph in the cup [Club World Cup] behind us. We came from a long flight, and I asked my players to take the game seriously," said Guardiola after the impressive win over a lower league side.