Beijing to host Barca

The former World Player of the Year is hugely popular in China and his presence will be big draw as the Spanish champion aims to bury the memory of its last trip to China.

Its match against Shanghai International three years ago was played the day after China's Asian Cup final clash against Japan and the attendance was disappointing. "In 2004, Barcelona visited Shanghai and the club felt it damaged its image," Liu Hongwei said. "So they want to repair it."

The August 5 match, one of three on Barcelona's Asian tour which also stops in Japan and Macau, will be played at Beijing's Fengtai stadium as the refurbishment of the bigger Worker's Stadium will not be completed in time.

Organizers will put in an extra 6,000 seats to take the capacity up to 35,000 and said Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi were contracted to come if they were still at the club. The match will form part of celebration of the one-year countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, starting on August 8.