The draw, made today, pitted Pep Guardiola's all-conquering side against either the Tunisians or the Qataris in a tournament which features the champions from each of FIFA's confederations.

Esperance football president Riadh Bennour told FIFA.com: "It's a good draw.

"Everyone is expecting to see a final between Santos and Barcelona but maybe they can watch a final between Esperance and Santos instead! We will try to make it happen, that's for sure."

Al Sadd's director of football Jafal Rashid said: "We are very happy with the draw and want to give ourselves the opportunity to play against the best team in the world. But the main objective for us is to give the best impression of our football."

The other quarter-final will be between Mexico's Monterrey and either Auckland City or the as yet undecided J.League champions.

Whoever emerges will then take on South American side Santos, whose director of football Pedro Luiz Nunes Conceicao was pleased the last-four clash would be staged in Tokyo.

"We are very happy to play in Toyota, where we have the biggest community of Brazilians," he said.

"With them and the 5,000 we are expecting to make the journey from Brazil, we will have excellent support. We think it's going to be a great tournament.

"The draw was okay for us but we don't think is going to be easy to reach the final, although we remain focused on that objective."