Ronaldinho to headline Barcelona's China trip

BEIJING, May 21 (Reuters) Ronaldinho and Barcelona's other top players will feature when the Catalan club play Beijing Guoan in the Chinese capital on Aug. 5, organisers said today.

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

Their 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 their image,'' Liu Hongwei told a news conference. ''So they want to repair it with a first class squad and performance.'' 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 at the bigger Worker's Stadium will not be completed in time.

Organisers 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 to China if they were still at the club.

The match will form part of celebration of the one-year countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which starts on Aug. 8.

Ronaldinho has asked not to be included in Brazil's squad for June and July's Copa America because of fatigue after a long season in Europe.

REUTERS SAM VV1212