Driving rain greeted Barcelona as they landed at Tokyo’s Narita Airport at 8.00am on Monday morning following a flight lasting precisely 13 hours and 16 minutes, according to the club’s official Twitter feed in English.
Hundreds of local fans braved the elements to welcome the European champions at the airport and then at their Yokohama hotel, where Lionel Messi, Neymar, Luis Suarez and the rest of the Barça squad were scheduled to take a pre-breakfast nap to help them adjust to the eight-hour time gap between Spain and Japan.
The Barcelona delegation will make their FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2015 debut in Yokohama at 19:30 (local time) on Thursday, when they take on China’s Guangzhou Evergrande, who beat CF America 2-1 on Sunday.
The Barça squad will have their first training session at the Mitsuzawa Stadium on Monday afternoon, when they will also meet up with teachers and pupils from the club’s Japanese academy.