La Liga 2016-17: Neymar equals Ronaldinho's goal scoring record at Barcelona
What’s the story?
Barcelona superstar Neymar Jr. has equalled Brazilian legend Ronaldinho’s goal-scoring record at Barcelona. The 24-year-old scored his 94th goal for Barcelona in injury time against Eibar, thus equalling Ronaldinho’s tally for the Catalan giants, in all competitions.
In case you didn’t know...
Neither of Neymar Jr. or Ronaldinho are the highest scoring Brazilians at Barcelona, as that honour falls to another legend, Rivaldo. The Brazil striker had scored 130 goals for Barcelona from 1997 to 2002, in 203 appearances for the club.
The heart of the matter
Neymar has brought up his tally of 94 goals in all competitions much quicker than Ronaldinho though. The 24-year-old brought up his tally in just 164 outings for the Blaugrana, 43 games quicker than Ronaldinho, who managed to score 94 goals in 207 matches in all competitions for Barcelona.
Neymar’s goal against Eibar that brought up the record was also momentous for another reason, as the Brazilian scored his first goal from open play since October of last year. Neymar did score a couple of penalties for Barcelona since the turn of the year, but endured a drought of a staggering 932 minutes without a goal from open play.
The Brazilian is nowhere in the Pichichi race this season, compared to his teammates Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez who are topping the charts this season with 15 goals. Neymar just has 5 goals in La Liga this season, and 9 goals overall with 15 assists in all competitions.
What’s next?
Neymar is on track to overtake Rivaldo as the highest scoring Brazilian of all time, as at his current scoring rate for Barcelona, he will need 227 games to reach a tally of 131 goals. If the Brazilian stays with Barcelona for two seasons, which he is likely to do, having signed a new contract for the Blaugrana recently, he should eventuall overtake Rivaldo, but will find it incredibly hard to break Lionel Messi’s staggering record of 482 goals for Barcelona in all competitions.
Sportskeeda’s Take
There are those who will point to the speed at which Neymar got his goals for Barcelona and say that he is better than Ronaldinho, but that does the forever-smiling legend a disservice. For starters, Ronaldinho played in a creative role for Barcelona, while Neymar is in a better position to score for Barcelona.
In addition, Ronaldinho remains singular in his style of play – the likelihood of Neymar being applauded by the Bernabeu crowd remains minute.