Neymar is a professional footballer who plays for Ligue 1 club, Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil National Team. Let’s have a look at some of the famous rivalries of Neymar Jr.
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Football has hardly seen more talented players ever than Neymar Jr. Born on 5 February, 1992, Neymar is a professional footballer who plays for Ligue 1 club, Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil National Team. Regarded as one of the best players in the world, Neymar made his professional debut in South America with the Brazilian club, Santos. It was here where he rose to prominence and started catching attention of the big European clubs. Barcelona won the race for Neymar in 2013. What followed was a journey that took Neymar upwards and forwards only. He formed the deadly trio named ‘MSN’ alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez and played a key role in Barcelona’s European treble in 2015. PSG broke the bank to lure Neymar to Paris and the record transfer fee paid to Barcelona still stands unbeaten.
Capable of playing in any position in the final third of the pitch, Neymar usually plays as a left winger. Possessing a rich collection of skills and tricks, the Brazilian is able to skip past defenders with ease and create goal scoring opportunities. Blessed with world class passing, vision and dribbling skills, Neymar also proves to be a threat from set pieces. However, his talent coupled with his antics on and off the field have led to various comparisons and debates involving him with other footballers. Let’s have a look at some of the famous rivalries of Neymar Jr.
First on the list of the rivals of Neymar is none other than his former teammate at Paris Saint-Germain, Edinson Cavani. The famous feud between the two South Americans happened in 2017. The occasion was a fixture against Lyon in Ligue 1. The pair had an argument over who should proceed to take the penalty awarded to PSG. The tensions between the two superstars were pretty evident on the pitch. Finally, it was the Uruguayan who took the penalty and missed it. It was reported that the two players had to be separated during the dressing game, further highlighting the issues between them.
Adding fire to this, it was also reported that Neymar had communicated to the club that he wanted the immediate sale of Cavani. This was certainly not how the Paris club would have wanted their new era to have started having produced a historic transfer window preceding the 2017/18 season. The tensions between the two stars didn’t really settle down and in 2020 Cavani admitted that he and Neymar didn’t go along very well owing to the different interests they had.
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While Neymar enjoyed a highly successful and enjoyable time at Barcelona, one player who certainly had a strained relationship with him was Jordi Alba. Their rivalry dates way back to 2016 when Neymar, struggling with some off-the pitch issues, shouted at Alba in a game against Valencia for not passing the ball to him.
A year later when Neymar, left Barcelona for PSG and the general mood among the fans of the Catalan club was of disappointment, Alba stated that he was indeed feeling much better without the Brazilian because of the freedom he now had to run up to the left flank, with Neymar no longer occupying it high-up the pitch.
Neymar was all around the newspapers in 2019 with all the news surrounding him involving a sensational return to Barcelona. Alba, when asked about the prospect of Neymar returning to the Camp Nou, didn’t exhibit much excitement saying that he was getting tired of the never-ending saga involving Neymar and Barcelona which clearly shows that all is not yet settled between the two.
Neymar was subject to an intense rivalry with the former Chelsea-man Eden Hazard in his prime with notable similarities in their game and playing style. If there was any pair that was expected to replicate the Ronaldo-Messi battle, it was expected to be Neymar and Hazard.
It was a real question to answer as to who between the two was the better player. While Neymar clearly was ahead of the Belgian when it came to end-product, Hazard’s case was supported by the fact that he had played most of his career under defensive managers like Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte, Maurizio Sarri.
When Belgium came up against Brazil at the quarter-final stage of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, much of the talk involved the two superstars and the impact they would have on their respective country’s qualifying chances. Belgium advanced with Hazard producing one of his best performances in World Cups having completed a phenomenal ten dribbles. Neymar on the other hand could only wonder what could have been, having suffered another disappointment with his country.
