Neymar excited to face Lionel Messi as PSG draw Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League
Following the draw for the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League, PSG forward Neymar has expressed his excitement at the thought of facing his former Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi.
PSG drew Barcelona in what would be the stand-out fixture of the Round of 16 as it pits two perennial heavyweights against each other.
Barcelona, however, have had a terrible start to the season and currently sit in 8th place on the La Liga points table. Ronald Koeman's side also finished second in their Champions League group after a Matchday 6 defeat at the hands of Juventus.
PSG have also had a slow start to the season by their standards. The Parisians sit third in Ligue 1, only one point behind league leaders Lille. The French club finished at the top of their Champions League group after three consecutive wins against RB Leipzig, Manchester United and Istanbul Basaksehir.
Brazilian forward Neymar moved to PSG from Barcelona for a world-record fee in 2017. The 28-year old can't wait to face his former club and his friend Lionel Messi, in particular.
Neymar has been vocal about wanting to play with the Barcelona superstar again in the future, and this has prompted many rumours about Messi joining the French giants.
After the UCL draw, Neymar took to Twitter to post a picture of Lionel Messi and himself, with the caption:
"See you soon my friend."
The tie is set to take place in February, and the Brazilian will hope to recover from his injury before then. The former Barcelona man was sidelined after being at the end of a horrible tackle on Sunday, which saw him stretchered off the field. Although the injury was thought to be bad at first, initial scans have shown that it isn't as severe as it seems.
Neymar wants Messi to join him at PSG next season
Neymar recently told ESPN:
"What I want most of all is to play with Messi again, to be able to enjoy him once again on the pitch. He can play in my place, I have no problem with that! But I want to play with him next year, for sure. We have to do it next season."
Lionel Messi famously asked to leave Barcelona in the summer, but the Catalan club rejected the Argentine's transfer request. Messi seems frustrated by how the club is being run, and a move away from Catalunya looks to be on the horizon.