Neymar Jr debut season in Barcelona – His best 5 games

Neymar hit the ground running and had a great debut season at Barcelona. While his move to the club raised a lot of dust and was less than transparent, Neymar wasn’t at fault. Still, the media dwelled more on off-field issues during his first days at Camp Nou. However, the Brazilian star player quickly turned the tide and helped his club win the Supercopa de Espana and go off to a brilliant La Liga season. 

By December, only Lionel Messi had better goal-scorer betting odds than Neymar’s at the bookies. Although he succumbed to injuries later on during the season, Neymar had already impressed enough on the field to stand out even to the most pessimistic critics. Here, we’ll take a look at some of the best games that he played in his opening season in Blaugrana. For future Neymar games, don’t forget to check the football betting tips available at www.bet.xyz in order to find the best odds!

Atletico Madrid

In his maiden season at Barcelona, Neymar started by scoring a pinpoint header goal that took the Supercopa de Espana for his team on away goals. After appearing for a short 26 minutes in the 7-0 trouncing of Levante, Tata Martino saw it fit to let Neymar play slightly longer at the Vicente Calderon. Playing in the first leg of a Supercopa de Espana final against Atletico Madrid would have intimidated even the best young recruits to Barcelona. 

Neymar, however, quickly got the flow of the game in front of a massive home crowd. Within a few minutes in the game, Neymar had levelled the scores. His goal would later turn out to be the away-goal winner in the tie. To add salt on the opposing team’s injury, Neymar continued to give the Atletico Madrid defence grief, getting himself booked just before the end of the game.

Celtic

With Cesc Fabregas and Lionel Messi unavailable, the centre-forward position was left to Neymar, and he delivered beyond expectations. Neymar’s hat-trick against Celtic was the cherry on top of a masterful performance. His performance killed the game as a contest and secured his position as Man of the Match. Of course, he would have wanted to do more with the eight goal-scoring chances that he’d created during the match.

Villarreal

After scoring a hat-trick against Celtic, Neymar went on to put up an excellent match-winning performance, this time against the Yellow Submarine. After a penalty score just before the half-hour mark, Barcelona fans assumed that another Neymar hat-trick was in the offing. However, Villarreal proved to be more challenging opponents than Celtic. Still, Neymar scored another goal for Barca. The woodwork conspired against the Brazilian and robbed him of his second hat-trick of the week. The brace was, however, an excellent way to round off the year.

Real Madrid

Neymar’s first appearance in an El Clasico game was one for the archives. The game had his name written all over it. At the first time of asking, the Brazilian star completely dominated the biggest club stage. Granted, Carlo Ancelotti blundered by fielding Sergio Ramos in midfield. That blunder played right into Barcelona’s hands, but still, Neymar’s performance was the star attraction of the day. 

The Los Blancos’ defence failed to keep up with his pace, invention, and trickery. Neymar’s first goal lit up Camp Nou and his overall performance was a thorn in Real Madrid’s side. He was all over the field and supplied a pass to Alexis Sanchez that resulted in a delicious winner. Neymar left the pitch on 84 minutes to a well-deserved standing ovation.

Celta Vigo

Just a few days after they had beaten Real Madrid, Barcelona was back at their usual antics—this time against Celta Vigo. Although the game is now remembered for resulting in a season-ending injury by Victor Valdes, Neymar was simply on fire. With both Lionel Messi and Alexis Sanchez also on their A-game, it would take something special to take the match ball home. That’s exactly what Neymar had in store. 

Only six  minutes into the game, the Brazilian youngster opened fire from close quarters after excellent link-up play between Sanchez and Messi. The Celta Vigo manager added one, then two more defenders on Neymar, but it made no difference whatsoever. His incisive forays continued and a second goal just after the hour mark put the gloss on a wonderful performance.

Sources: bbc.co.uk / goal.com