The Brazil international’s move to Barcelona raised a lot of eyebrows but if his performances at the Confederations Cup are anything to go buy with, the former Santos man has proved his doubters wrong.
The 2013 Confederations Cup has been a very productive one for Brazilian protégé Neymar. The new Barcelona signing has scored three goals in three games and has spearheaded the Selecao attack with extreme prejudice while also showing a lot of maturity beyond his years.
The youngster has starred for his team in all three games, opening the scoring in the first two games against Japan and Mexico respectively. Moreover, both goals were scored inside the opening ten minutes of the game. As things stand, he is the third top scorer in the tournament behind Fernando Torres of Spain and Abel Hernandez of Uruguay who scored a major chunk of their goals against Tahiti.
Many people have been quite negative about the prospect of the player coming in Europe. However, his recent stats at the tournament show that Neymar could be yet another Brazilian sensation romping stadiums in Europe.
Apart from scoring goals, the former Santos man has been the team’s top creator. The youngster has made five key passes and averages at 1.7 key passes per game. Apart from dishing out key passes, he also has one assist to his name.
When it comes to dribbling, Neymar has managed to complete more dribbles that anyone in the Brazil squad and on average, beats a defender in a one-on-one situation three times a game. The youngster’s passing percentage is 85.5 per cent which is another stat to reason with people who suggest that the player is too individualistic.
Barcelona are 57 million euros poorer thanks to their purchase of Neymar. However, the player has indeed proved that he is value for the money and has the potential to become one of the best players in a star studded Barcelona side.
The last group game against the Italians was going to be a big test of Neymar’s credentials. Playing against a team full of seasoned professionals who play in a competitive league that the Italian Serie A is was definitely the kind of game that would have given people an idea about what to expect from the player in Europe.
And as it turned out, the Italians also experienced just how difficult it can be to contain Neymar who scored his third goal of the tournament. The youngster fired in a bending free kick into the top corner from a tough angle and close range.
As things stand, Neymar is only the fourth player behind Ronaldinho, Roman Riquelme and David Villa as the only player to have scored in all three group games of this tournament.
The jury was out on him and the spotlight was on him ahead of the tournament at home soil and so far, Neymar has proved his doubters wrong by giving all-round performances in all games. However, the last two games of the competition could be the ones that would really define the future of the Brazilian.
The youngster has starred for his team in all three games, opening the scoring in the first two games against Japan and Mexico respectively. Moreover, both goals were scored inside the opening ten minutes of the game. As things stand, he is the third top scorer in the tournament behind Fernando Torres of Spain and Abel Hernandez of Uruguay who scored a major chunk of their goals against Tahiti.
Many people have been quite negative about the prospect of the player coming in Europe. However, his recent stats at the tournament show that Neymar could be yet another Brazilian sensation romping stadiums in Europe.
Apart from scoring goals, the former Santos man has been the team’s top creator. The youngster has made five key passes and averages at 1.7 key passes per game. Apart from dishing out key passes, he also has one assist to his name.
When it comes to dribbling, Neymar has managed to complete more dribbles that anyone in the Brazil squad and on average, beats a defender in a one-on-one situation three times a game. The youngster’s passing percentage is 85.5 per cent which is another stat to reason with people who suggest that the player is too individualistic.
Barcelona are 57 million euros poorer thanks to their purchase of Neymar. However, the player has indeed proved that he is value for the money and has the potential to become one of the best players in a star studded Barcelona side.
The last group game against the Italians was going to be a big test of Neymar’s credentials. Playing against a team full of seasoned professionals who play in a competitive league that the Italian Serie A is was definitely the kind of game that would have given people an idea about what to expect from the player in Europe.
And as it turned out, the Italians also experienced just how difficult it can be to contain Neymar who scored his third goal of the tournament. The youngster fired in a bending free kick into the top corner from a tough angle and close range.
As things stand, Neymar is only the fourth player behind Ronaldinho, Roman Riquelme and David Villa as the only player to have scored in all three group games of this tournament.
The jury was out on him and the spotlight was on him ahead of the tournament at home soil and so far, Neymar has proved his doubters wrong by giving all-round performances in all games. However, the last two games of the competition could be the ones that would really define the future of the Brazilian.
