club's ambitions for the season.
Instead, far from falling behind their La Liga rivals, Barcelona have been brushing opponents aside and Neymar has emerged as a genuine and worthy replacement. He is now a true contender to Messi’s crown.
"[Neymar] is so good that, when Messi stops, he will be his replacement. He will be the best player in the world, I have no doubt," said Xavi, in an interview with Uefa (ESPN) earlier this year.
But Neymar might not have to wait that long – he has proven in the last three months that he belongs on the same podium as Messi, and has usurped Cristiano Ronaldo in football's superstar heirarchy.
It’s not just this season either. Messi's brilliance in 2014/15 overshadowed the work Neymar did. Neymar was an integral part of Barcelona’s historic treble winning side in 2014/15, scoring 39 goals in 51 games - an incredible return for someone who claims he is still learning every day from his idol, Messi.
If Neymar is still learning, someone had better explain his international goal scoring record, which is ludicrous. At the age of 23, Neymar has scored 46 goals in 67 games for his country. Only the long retired Pele, Ronaldo, Romario and Zico have scored more for Brazil and they had an entire career to do it.
Neymar grew up idolising Robinho, a naturally talented but fairly selfish showboating winger, similar to another former Brazil and Nou Camp favourite, Ronaldinho.
Neymar, like Ronaldinho, plays on the left of a front three and cuts inside to exploit the space in the middle. On the opposite side of the pitch, Messi does the exact same thing. Width is created by Barca's dynamic wingbacks, Dani Alves and Jordi Alba, and both forwards play most of their football in the middle of the pitch. But one is clearly more the focus of the team than the other.
In Messi's absence this season, Neymar has scored 13 goals in 14 games and created an astonishing 55 chances - when playing with Messi, he created only 82 over the entirety of 2014/15.
But, where certain other world stars might become jealous, petulent or unsupportive of teammates who legitimately threaten their status as the main man (I'M TALKING ABOUT RONALDO), Messi has actively helped to develop Neymar into an individual superstar and a real team player.
Just as Ronaldinho took Messi under his wing at Barcelona, Messi has mentored Neymar and you can see the effect it has had on the Brazilian. We now know that when Neymar is the focus of the Barcelona team he can produce numbers just like his mentor but, crucially, knows the team comes first.
Wonder goal: Neymar's second vs Villarreal may very well be goal of the season
Having opened the scoring against Villarreal, Neymar let Luis Suarez take a penalty to make it 2-0 despite being the preferred spot-kick taker in the team.
If you wanted proof that Neymar is learning from Messi's example, the gesture is directly related. In a match against Cordoba, Messi turned down the chance to take a penalty and score his hattrick in order to let Neymar get on the scoresheet - something the Brazilian said left him "speechless".
Contrast that with Ronaldo's stubborn refusal to allow anyone else at Real Madrid to even attempt a free kick - something he's really not very good at any more - and it becomes clear that Neymar isn't playing for himself.
Neymar is a brilliant individual player just like Ronaldo, but is first and foremost an integral part of a great team. If Barcelona are U2 at their glorious mid-80s peak, at Real Madrid, Bale, Benzema and James are just the backing singers delivering a platform of worship for the modern era Bono-theism of Ronaldo.telegraph
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