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Lionel Messi chested the winner as Barcelona beat Estudiantes of Argentina 2-1 after extra time to win the Club World Cup.
Striker Mauro Boselli had put the Libertadores Cup holders ahead in the 37th minute, Pedro equalised in the 89th and Messi struck with 10 minutes remaining in extra time to hand the European champions the world crown for the first time.

The first clear-cut opening fell to the Argentine underdogs in the fifth minute. Juan Sebastian Veron, who was bringing out all his midfield mastery from years gone by, dinked a delightful ball into the path of Enzo Perez, with Victor Valdes coming quick off his line in order to snuff out the opportunity and Carlos Puyol eventually blasting the ball away to safety.

Barca had a golden opportunity to open the scoring through their star playmaker Xavi. Following good link-up play between Dani Alves and Zlatan Ibrahimovic down the Barca right, Xavi found himself in a one-on-one opportunity with Damian Albil in the Estudiantes goal.
However, rather than take on the shot, the Spanish midfielder attempted to play in Thierry Henry who was arriving late from an acute angle. It, inevitably, proved to be the wrong decision and the chance fizzled out to nothing.

Estudiantesfashioned a heart-in-the-mouth moment in the 27th minute for the Barcelona fans, as a corner delivered by Leandro Benitez was not properly dealt with, and Veron let fly from the edge of the penalty area with a shot that went agonisingly wide of Valdes’ far post.

Ballon d’Or winner Messi had been quiet throughout the opening exchanges, and it was to be his team-mate Xavi who would again be involved in another major talking point for Barcelona just past the half-hour mark.

Ibrahimovic again turned provider, hoisting the ball into the Estudiantes penalty area which Xavi chased down, only to be clipped by the on-rushing Albil. The contact appeared slight, but Barcelona had a case for a penalty which was not awarded.

Three minutes later, the breakthrough for Estudiantes came out of nothing. Boselli beat Puyol and Eric Abidal in the air, to power home a pinpoint cross from the left by Enzo Perez and give Estudiantes a lead at half-time which, although their efforts merited, was still something of a surprise.

Barcelona’s players came out with Pep Guardiola’s words still ringing in their ears and, consequently, began the second half with real purpose. Ibrahimovic came the closest with a sweetly-struck left-footed shot that flew just past Albil’s far post. The talented Swede had spotted the gap, and was desperately unlucky in his failed attempt to execute.

However, as the time continued to pass, the frustration continued to mount for Barcelona. When they finally managed to fashion some space to allow for the creative talents of Messi and Xavi, Dan Alves failed to finish off the move. The ball eluding the Brazilian full-back, just after the hour mark, when any sort of meaningful contact would have given Barcelona an equaliser.

The sense of impatience from the Barcelona bench was becoming tangible. Guardiola had sent on Pedro for the disappointing Seydou Keita at the start of the second-half, and he was prepared to freshen up his attacking options once more as Jeffren took the place of Henry down the left-flank.

Immediately, Barcelona looked a different proposition and the South Americans were powerless to prevent a Barcelona equaliser coming with just one minute of normal time remaining.

Xavi chipped the ball into the box, and Gerard Pique managed to get his head to it. The tall centre-back directed the ball into the path of Pedro who calmly lobbed Albil from just a few yards out.

The Catalans started the first-half of extra-time positively and Messi, who had hardly sparked this final alight, smashed the ball wide when played in by Ibrahimovic.

But he was to make amends ten minutes before the end of extra time, when he chested in Alves’ deep cross after ghosting in between Diaz and Cellay with Albil flapping at thin air.

Barcelona had finally taken the lead 110 minutes into the match, and for all Estudiantes’ efforts in fashioning an equaliser – including a glancing header from Boselli which just went the wrong side of the post following a delightful Veron delivery – they were unable to do so.

Fifa's Sepp Blatter has revealed the Republic of Ireland have requested a spot in the 2010 World Cup finals as an extra team after their play-off defeat.

The Republic lost to an extra-time goal against France when Thierry Henry handled the ball during the build-up.

"I will bring it to the attention of the Executive Committee," said Blatter.

The president of football's world governing body added that goal-line technology and extra referees would be considered for the South Africa finals.

The executive committee will hold an emergency meeting in Cape Town on Wednesday, two days ahead of the draw for the finals, to assess the idea of extra match officials, one behind each goal.

If they recommend the proposal it will go before football's rule-making international board in Zurich in March for a final decision.

"It's possible we will make additional officials for the World Cup but we have to see if it is feasible or realistic," added Blatter. "Something has to be done in terms of match control.

"We have only one man on the field of play who shall intervene in this matter. He has two assistants for the time being, perhaps more in the future. He has to make an immediate decision.

"He has only two eyes. So match control is now is on the agenda. How shall we avoid such situations as we have seen in this very specific match?"

Regarding the Republic's case, Blatter added that Costa Rica, who also believe they were unfairly denied a place in the finals – this time because of an offside goal from Uruguay – would also have to be acknowledged if extra places are discussed.

The Football Association of Ireland released a statement, confirming Blatter had agreed to a meeting in Zurich last Friday, which lasted for 90 minutes.

"A lot was discussed at the meeting and at one stage the FAI asked if Ireland could be accommodated into the World Cup 2010," read the statement.

"Other suggestions were also made to mitigate against further occurrences of such incidents, including the use of additional goal-line assistant referees for Fifa international matches, further use of video technology for matches at the highest level, stronger provisions to discourage players from engaging in such blatant breaches of the laws of the game and provisions to strengthen referee selection for such important matches."

The Republic originally asked for the play-off to be replayed but that request was turned down by Fifa.

The man at the centre of the storm, former Arsenal striker Henry, released a statement two days after the infamous match in which he said a replay would have been "the fairest solution".