Neymar's talent has never been in a doubt
but the Barcelona forward has, in many people's eyes, been stepping in Lionel
Messi's shadow at Barcelona. The arrival
of Luis Suarez only further placed in doubt Neymar's role at the Camp Nou and
the Brazilian has been linked with a move away from the club during the course
of 2015.
However, considering what Neymar has
achieved over the calendar year, Barcelona would be very foolish to let the
forward leave the club.
Prior to the final La Liga game of 2015,
Neymar made 49 appearances, scoring 29 goals and setting up 8 goals for his
team mates. In comparison to Lionel
Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, these statistics may not seem anything special. In fact, there are plenty of players who
scored more goals than Neymar in 2015.
That being said, Neymar had many special moments throughout the year but
his best definitely came in the Champions League.
From the 2014/15 Champions League
quarter-final onwards, Neymar scored in every match of the competition. The Champions League is comfortably the
biggest club competition in the world, with the best places teams and players
participating in it. Barcelona's
opponents across those five matches were Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and
Juventus, three of European football's top clubs.
Not only did Neymar score in the home leg
of the games against Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, the Brazilian also
scored in both away legs. He then popped
up to seal the win against Juventus with a late goal and win the Champions League
trophy for his team. Neymar scored 7 of
his 10 Champions League goals against the champions of France, Germany and
Italy, which is a fantastic feat.
Neymar is the first and only player to
score goals in each leg of the quarter-final, semi-final and in the final of
the Champions League. It's highly
unlikely that this record will be matched in the near future, even by the likes
of Lionel Messi and Ronaldo. This
incredible statistic shows how Neymar is a player who does the business when it
matters most and the latter stages of the Champions League in 2015, was a real
stand-out moment for the Brazil superstar.
Neymar will have to achieve something truly incredible in 2016, if he is
to surpass what was his best moment of 2015.
