Barcelona cruised into the final of the FIFA Club World Cup on Thursday, as Luis Suarez grabbed a hat-trick in a comfortable 3-0 victory over Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande.

Luiz Felipe Scolari’s underdogs started the game brightly and initially dealt well with Barcelona’s threat but, once goalkeeper Li Shuai palmed Ivan Rakitic’s swerving shot into the path of the grateful Suarez towards the end of the first half, after going behind they never really looked like getting back into the match.

Suarez, leading the line alone in the absence of Lionel Messi and Neymar, made it 2-0 midway through the second half after clinically dispatching Andres Iniesta’s smart through ball - before the Uruguayan completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot on 67 minutes after Munir El-Haddadi had been tripped. The final 15 minutes saw the European champions pass the ball around as if the game were an elaborate training exercise, with Guangzhou perhaps content simply to limit the damage.

Luis Enrique’s side will now face River Plate in the final of the competition on Sunday.

If the Club World Cup has long been all about the eventual showdown between the champions of Europe and South America, then this was a valuable warm-up game for a Barcelona side who found Guangzhou an obdurate, determined opponent for large stretches of the game. Without Messi, ruled out due to pain from renal colic” hours before kick-off, and Neymar, fit only for a place on the bench, Suarez was assisted in attack by Munir and Sergi Roberto; although it was Iniesta and Rakitic who provided most of the attacking impetus.

The two midfielders assisted Suarez’s opening strikes – the Croatian firing a strike from 30 yards that Li could only parry into the path of the striker for the opener, before Iniesta provided the sumptuous pass in an elaborate one-two with the Uruguayan as he did the business inside the box. His late penalty was just icing on the cake, as he became the first player to score a hat-trick in tournament history.

For Guangzhou the final result will be a moderate disappointment, with Scolari occasionally showing his frustration at his side’s inability to fully execute his tactical plans. They will now face Sanfrecce on Sunday in the third-place play-off – although they will be without full-back Zou Zheng, who was stretchered off in the first half after appearing to suffer a horrific broken leg in an innocuous off the ball accident.

It was the one truly sour moment in an otherwise unremarkable game.

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