Harrison Afful's hopes of playing Barcelona at the Club World Cup were shattered when his Tunisian club Esperance were beaten 2-1  by Al Sadd on Sunday.
Asian champions from Qatar ground out the win to set up a dream semi-final against European kings Barcelona.
Afful came on as a second-half substitute for Iddrisa Coulibaly but he could not save his team from going down against the star-studded Qatari side.
The Ghanaian had spoken of his hopes of playing Barcelona on the semi final to spark interest from European clubs.
But his attempts were left in vain and will now face a fifth-place play-off.
The Qatari side took the lead against the run of play in Toyota when Khalfan Al Khalfan headed home after a powerful run down the right from Kader Keita in the 33rd minute.
Three minutes into the second half, Doha-based Al Sadd doubled their lead when captain Abdulla Koni swept home a Lee Jung-soo knockdown from point-blank range.
Esperance grabbed a lifeline on the hour mark when skipper Oussama Darragi's flicked headed crept in at the far post but he was furious to be substituted a little over 10 minutes later.
The Tunisians twice had goals ruled offside in a frantic final few minutes but ultimately paid for their wastefulness in front of goal.
Barcelona left for the Far East immediately after beating Real Madrid 3-1 in Saturday's 'Clasico' to leapfrog their bitter rivals at the top of La Liga.
Barca take on Al Sadd on December 15 in Yokohama with the final of the seven-team tournament at the same venue three days later.
Japan's Kashiwa Reysol were playing Mexican side Monterrey in the second quarterfinal later on Sunday.