Suarez, Iniesta star in Barcelona's win over Guangzhou at Club World Cup

A third of Barcelona's usual front three was more than enough to get the La Liga leaders through to the FIFA Club World Cup final in Japan.

With Lionel Messi out and Neymar on the bench, Luis Suarez was left to lead the line in Thursday's semifinal against Asian champion Guangzhou Evergrande. The Uruguayan responded with a hat trick to power Barcelona to a convincing 3-0 victory and set up a much-anticipated final against South American champion River Plate.

Messi missed the game due to kidney stones and Neymar was still recovering from a groin injury. But Guangzhou manager Luiz Felipe Scolari knew that Barca had more than enough firepower to get past his Chinese side in the same Yokohama stadium where he led Brazil to victory in the 2002 World Cup final.

Andres Iniesta made sure of it. The captain played his usual maestro role as Barcelona enjoyed its normal bulk of the possession (75 percent by game's end).

Suarez pounced on the rebound from Ivan Rakitic's shot in the 39th minute to give Barca a 1-0 halftime lead.

The moment of true Barcelona magic would come five minutes after the break when Suarez and Iniesta combined to make it 2-0.

Suarez laid the ball off to Iniesta outside the box, then got it back with a perfectly lofted ball over the top from the Spaniard. Suarez chested the ball down to his right foot for the volley strike past helpless goalkeeper Li Shuai.

Suarez got his hat trick in the 67th minute, converting a penalty after Munir was fouled inside the box.

So River Plate got what it wanted: a matchup with Barcelona in Sunday's final. The legendary Argentine club, which advanced with a 1-0 semifinal win over Sanfrecce Hiroshima, must raise its game considerably to have a chance against Barca, which has won its two previous trips to the FIFA Club World Cup final.