Neymar names Barcelona legend as best player he has ever played with
Brazil superstar Neymar has named his former Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi as the best player he has played with for club and country. The Al-Hilal striker has been out injured since last year.
Neymar, 32, enjoyed a fruitful four-season stint at the Camp Nou between 2013 and 2017 before leaving for Paris Saint-Germain on a world-record transfer of €222 million. The Brazilian scored goals and won trophies galore - including two La Liga titles and the continental treble.
Having bagged a rich haul of 105 goals and 76 assists in 186 games across competitions at the Camp Nou, Neymar shared the pitch 206 times with Messi - mostly at Barca - recording 67 joint goal contributions, with the Brazilian scoring 27 of them.
Ahead of Brazil's final 2024 Copa America game with Columbia on Tuesday (July 2) in Santa Clara, California, Neymar named Messi as the best player he has played with (as per Bavaros Brasil).
The striker is not in Dorival Junior's 26-man squad for the Copa since rupturing his ACL while on international duty in October last year. Nevertheless, the country's all-time top scorer is cheering his teammates on from the United States as they look to win their first Copa title since 2019.
Messi, meanwhile, is a bonafide Barca legend, registering a record 672 goals and 303 assists in 17 seasons, both record tallies, and winning countless titles, including two continental trebles.
How Neymar starred for Barcelona in their treble-winning season?
Neymar was a key player as Barcelona won their second continental treble in the 2014-15 season. Luis Enrique's charges finished two points ahead of their arch-rivals Real Madrid (92) in a titanic La Liga title race.
They beat Athletic Bilbao 3-1 in the Copa del Rey final and also overcame Juventus by the same scoreline in the UEFA Champions League title match to become the first European club to win multiple continental trebles.
Neymar starred with 39 goals and 10 assists in 54 games across competitions. That includes 22 goals and nine assists in 33 games in La Liga, seven goals and an assist in six Copa del Rey outings and 10 strikes in 12 games in the UEFA Champions League.