Tokya: Spanish giants Barcelona have played down their billing as favourites for the prestigious Club World Cup, which kicks off on Sunday.

The European champions head to Japan with two-time World Player of the Year Ronaldinho in rampant form but coach Frank Rijkaard said his team would take nothing for granted.

"I can already see the headlines saying that we are the favourites, but I think that makes it all the more complicated for us," Rijkaard said.

"I don't think that there is anybody in the club who thinks that we are the favourites."

The Spanish giants have never won an intercontinental title and go into the end-of-year mini-tournament hoping to go one better than Johan Cruyff's dream team, which lost 2-1 to Sao Paulo in 1992.

Brazil's Internacional are the main threat with Asian champions Jeonbuk Motors, Club America, Al Ahly and Auckland City hoping to spring a surprise.

While Barcelona are missing injured forwards Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho appears back to his best after a disappointing World Cup.

The Brazilian has netted 10 times already in La Liga and underlined his resurgence with an impudent strike in the crucial mid-week win over Werder Bremen.

"This year I wanted to win the league, the Champions League, the World Cup, and the Club World Cup. Unfortunately it proved beyond us in Germany, but that makes me even more determined not to miss out in December's tournament," Ronaldinho said.

"Ever since I was a boy back in Brazil, this was the title that we all wanted to win. I can remember a number of games involving Brazilian sides and they all gave their utmost to try and become the best team in the world.

"I'd love to win the Club World Cup," he said.

Ronaldinho also said he was relishing the prospect of a match-up against Internacional, arch-rivals of his former club Gremio.

"I'm sure that their fans would whistle at me and put pressure on me, thanks to the rivalry that exists between the two teams," he said.

"Barcelona, however, are obliged to beat every opponent and that's what we've got to do."

Internacional showed they were taking the competition seriously by resting their top players for the final Brazilian league match last weekend.

However a 4-1 hammering by Goias, which left them a distant second behind Club World Cup holders Sao Paulo, will not have boosted confidence.

Inter, like Barcelona, enter the competition in the semi-finals where they will take on either African champions Al Ahly or Auckland City next week.

Egypt's Al Ahly are determined to improve on last year's bottom place and warmed up with a 5-1 win over Olympic which put them top of the domestic league.

"Our problem last year was that we lost our form, for some reason we could not play like we had before arriving in Japan," said influential playmaker Mohamed Aboutrika.

"This time, I think we are regaining some of our magical form and, once we have harmony among our players, the sky will be the limit."

Their opponents Auckland, the Oceania champions, have had a rocky build-up after the departure of their coach last month but his replacement Allan Jones said the team would keep their focus.

"This is the culmination of two, and in some cases three, hard years of work so they're not going to blow it at the last hurdle and particularly when they know the quality of teams in front of them," Jones said.

Meanwhile South Korea's Jeonbuk are riding high from their surprise Asian victory as they prepare to take on Club America, the CONCACAF champions from Mexico.

"The first game is the most important and I want to win this match for the next one against Barcelona," said coach Choi Kang-hee.

"My aim is to play such football that they will never forget Jeonbuk Motors again," he said.

Sao Paolo beat Liverpool 1-0 in the final to win last year's tournament, which replaces the traditional clash between the European and South American champions played since 1960.