Messi vs Neymar

Messi vs Neymar Stats at the Bottom

Full Name	Born	Country	Height	WAG	Son
Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini	24/06/1987 (age 28)	Argentina	1.69 m	Antonella Roccuzzo	Thiago Messi
Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior	05/02/1992 (age 23)	Brazil	1.74 m	-	Davi Lucca da Silva

After his arrival to Barcelona from the Brazilian national football championship, Neymar failed to produce what was expected from such a potential and one of the most expensive players in the world. Or were the expectations were too high?

In the tender age of 21, Neymar dominated in Brazil from his teenage days, but European football, especially in one of the best teams in the history of the game, is completely a different thing.

Neymar was vastly criticized especially for his lack of precision in big goal scoring opportunities – he scored “only” 16 goals for Barça in his first season and added only eleven assists. Those numbers even raised a question mark over his transfer – some experts believe he was a total failure of Barcelona’s scouting network!

If we make a Neymar vs Messi comparison, Messi was already an important member of Barcelona at 21, and one of the leading players of the team. With 23, Messi won his first Golden Ball award and he was officially the best footballer in the world!

However, in his second season at the club, Neymar proved his value and had one of the pivotal roles in Barcelona’s successes this season.

If we look at his numbers we will see that he is clearly getting much better. He scored 38 goals this season, two times more than in the previous one. And he added seven assists this season, which is clearly an evidence that the Brazilian focused in scoring goals.

Messi watching Neymar scoring Barcelona winning goal against Juventus in Champions League Final

However, there is one point in Neymar vs Messi comparison which is clearly in the Brazilian’s favor – Neymar has more goals scored per game for his national team than Messi. Neymar scored 43 goals in 62 matches for Brazil which is remarkable for a player of such a young age, and Messi scored 45 goals in 97 appearances.

Considering he is only 23 and that he scored 43 goals during a period of five years, he could far exceed the record of legendary Pele, who scored 77 goals for his national team in his career. He will have to continue scoring at this pace, which is not very easy, but it is doable.

If we talk about the Messi vs Neymar comparison by looking at their style, it seems that Neymar is playing with much more flair at the moment and his tricks and dribbles are simply amazing, although Messi is also one of the greatest dribblers in the game, Neymar’s moves are more attractive at the moment. However, we must remember that Messi is much older than the young Brazilian and that he simplified his game throughout the years and made it more effective, so Neymar can go through that path as well.

Both players love to drive from the wings to the middle and bring the most havoc to opponents when they are executing those plays. Neymar has a more powerful shot than Messi, but Messi’s is much more precise.

All in all, Neymar is certainly one of the best footballers in the world currently, but he is still no match for Messi’s excellence. Brazilian is young, the time is ahead of him and if he continues improving like he did this season, he will certainly be one of the hall-of-famers in the history of football.

However, it seems that when both players end their careers and we get to look back at Messi vs Neymar comparison, we will probably see that Messi was clearly a better and more complete player.

Messi and Neymar are best friends!

Here are the updated Goal Statistics of Lionel Messi vs Neymar season (2015/2016):

(updated immediately after every match)

Goals 2015/2016	La Liga	Champions League	Other Cups	TOTAL
Messi	4	2	3	9
Neymar	14	2	0	16

Goals/Games 2015/2016	La Liga	Champions League	Other Cups	TOTAL
Messi	50%	100%	100%	69%
Neymar	117%	40%	0%	94%

Assists/Games 2015/2016	La Liga	Champions League	Other Cups	TOTAL
Messi	25%	50%	0%	23%
Neymar	42%	60%	0%	47%

Goal Statistics of Lionel Messi and Neymar season (2014/2015):

Goals 2014/2015	La Liga	Champions League	Other Cups	TOTAL
Messi	43	10	5	58
Neymar	22	10	6	38

Goals/Games 2014/2015	La Liga	Champions League	Other Cups	TOTAL
Messi	113%	77%	83%	102%
Neymar	67%	83%	120%	76%

Assists/Games 2014/2015	La Liga	Champions League	Other Cups	TOTAL
Messi	47%	46%	67%	49%
Neymar	21%	0%	0%	14%

Goal Statistics of Lionel Messi and Neymar season (2013/2014):

Goals 2013/2014	La Liga	Champions League	Other Cups	TOTAL
Messi	28	8	5	41
Neymar	9	4	3	16

Goals/Games 2013/2014	La Liga	Champions League	Other Cups	TOTAL
Messi	90%	114%	63%	89%
Neymar	47%	44%	75%	50%

Assists/Games 2013/2014	La Liga	Champions League	Other Cups	TOTAL
Messi	35%	0%	38%	30%
Neymar	42%	33%	0%	34%