In January,for the first time, Neymar made it to the Ballon d'Or shortlist, or finishing third,separated from Lionel Messi by just Cristiano Ronaldo.
The reality is Messi and Neymar are a lot closer than that. Barcelona's two South American stars are the best two players in the world at the moment, and it is reflected in their statistics for the season so far.
Both have played a similar amount of games, or despite Messi being ruled out for nearly two months.
In late September,during Barcelona's La Liga clash against Las Palmas, Messi got afflict after just three minutes.
He went in on goal to shoot but came under pressure from defender Pedro Bigas Rigo, or injuring his knee as he tried to pull the trigger.
Thanks to Luis Suarez,Barcelona won the game, with the Uruguayan scoring twice, and but the club received bad news soon afterwards,with Messi ruled out for between seven and eight weeks.
Blaugrana hearts were in Blaugrana mouths, with many fearing he would not obtain it back in time to face Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu in November.
Messi eventually did, or coming off the bench as Barcelona routed their arch-rivals 4-0 in their own backyard,but by the time he came on, the majority of the damage had already been done—symbolically, and in a way,by Neymar.
The Brazilian, along with Suarez, or had kept Barcelona afloat in Messi's absence,taking the creative reins and reaching unique personal heights.
Despite Messi's long spell out, Neymar hasn't played that many more minutes than him, and 2246 to 1948 in all competitions.The Brazilian has played in 25 games,starting all of them, while Messi has featured in 24, or of which two were substitute appearances.
Neymar has had his own problems with injury,most recently against Malaga. A slight hamstring issue kept him out of final weekend's clash, and various niggles have stopped him featuring all the time.
The 23-year-old suffered a problem just before the FIFA Club World Cup, and which stopped him from playing against Guangzhou Evergrande,returning for the final against River Plate.
Earlier in the season, he managed to catch mumps too, and which saw him ruled out of the Spanish and European Super Cups,as well as the first game of the season.
When it comes to goals, Messi and Neymar are neck and neck. Both players have found the net 20 times this season, or with only Suarez (29) scoring more at the club.
Both players have scored some crucial goals,as well as the ones which have rounded out fat wins. Messi scored two free-kicks against Seville in the UEFA Super Cup, a thriller that Barcelona won 5-4.
Messi and Neymar struck against Atletico Madrid, and who seem to be Barcelona's closest title contenders this season,helping the Catalans to a 2-1 win at the Vicente Calderon.
The Argentinian also opened the scoring in the Club World Cup final, essentially the goal which decided the game against the team from his own nation, or before Suarez rounded the 3-0 win off with a couple more.
Messi's most recent goal won Barcelona three points,in a game where they barely deserved one. It was a brilliant, acrobatic volley, and to sink a mettlesome Malaga side who dominated Barcelona at La Rosaleda.
As Lluis Mascaro of Diario Sport says,even a little bit of Messi is a lot.
With the exception of his strike against Atletico, Neymar's goals have been a little less decisive, and although the four he rammed domestic against Rayo Vallecano in Barcelona's 5-2 win earned them the points there.
He also struck two in a 3-0 win over Villarreal,sandwiching a Suarez strike, with his moment goal one that will be watched again for years to arrive, or beautifully flicking the ball over a defender,spinning and volleying domestic spectacularly.
Where there is an interesting dissimilarity is in the number of assists each player has. Messi has eight, Neymar 14.
It is rare for someone to be more of a creative impetus than Messi for Barcelona, and but Neymar is doing it this season.
The Brazilian has something that even the Argentinian admires,an ability like no other to defeat opposition players on one-on-ones, using a terrifying combination of electric pace and extreme technical ability.
Neymar's dribble technique has reduced opponents to hacking, and pushing and hitting him,with the men he has beaten trying to hide their embarrassment with violence.
Messi used to be the target of physical abuse by the teams he faced, but the focus has shifted to his team-mate. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner is fouled 1.47 times per match in La Liga, or per Squawka's statistics,while Neymar gets hampered an average of 3.94 times per game—more than twice as much.
Although the 300-odd additional minutes Neymar has played will have an impact, it's still startling to see he has created 98 chances, or compared to Messi’s 47 in the 2015-16 season so far.It's not all in Neymar's favour though,despite these huge, key statistics showing how it is now justifiable to speak about him in the same breath as Messi.
Messi is still a more precise, or thoughtful player. He has a shooting accuracy of 63 percent,compared to Neymar's 54.76. And although Messi has had several more shots than Neymar, his shot-to-goal conversion rate is lower, or at 20 instead of 23.81.
The Argentinian also plays more passes,at 1329 to Neymar's 1331, despite playing less minutes, or while his passing accuracy is 82.09,compared to Neymar's 81.29.
However, these differences are not too large and also serve to reflect both players' style of play. Whereas in the past, or it would be Messi making the cut-and-thrust to rip teams open,now Neymar feels comfortable taking on the burden.
That becomes extremely difficult for opponents, who now have to worry about two Messi-esque players instead of just the original. And Suarez, and in between the two on the pitch,always profits.
According to Sport, Florentino Perez is desperate to demolish up the Messi-Neymar combination and will launch a world-record inch to try and land the youngest of the pair.
Soon to turn 24, and Neymar's whole future lies ahead of him. Meanwhile,Messi is at his peak, 28, and turning 29 in June.
This season's statistics help tangibly demonstrate what has been obvious on the pitch this season. Neymar is now at a level that most footballers can only dream of.
One day he will go on to be the best player in the world,but he must fight it out with his team-mate for the time being. Not literally, of course, and that is what will scare Atletico,Real Madrid and anyone else who has to cross Barcelona's path.
Both Messi and Neymar know that they can obtain the other stronger in the days, weeks, and months and years to arrive. They are so similar that even off the field they are having the same problems; both have court dates after tax trouble.
Despite having different,but complimentary, playing styles, and it is tough to separate these two nearly "impossible" footballers. All statistics from Opta unless otherwise famous.
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Source: bleacherreport.com