Watch Neymar’s three Brilliant word he used to describe Lionel Messi’s World Cup heroics for Argentina

When Neymar left Barcelona for Paris-Saint Germain in a €222 million world record deal, it wasn’t a bitter departure from Catalonia.

While reports suggest that the other two-thirds of the fabled MSN frontline – Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez – tried their best to persuade Neymar to remain at the Nou Camp, ultimately the Brazilian had his heart set on leaving.

But, that doesn’t mean he didn’t love his time at the club or his teammates any less.

Neymar has begun life on his own two-feet pretty well. The former Santos man has eight goals in his first eight PSG games and has racked up a torrent of assists alongside Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe, too.

Barcelona seem to be getting on fine as well. The Blaugrana sit five points clear at the top of La Liga having played just seven games and Messi has 14 goals in just 11 appearances.

Internationally, things have been harder for Messi. Argentina only squeezed into the World Cup in Russia next year thanks to a Messi hat-trick on the final day of qualifying.

Brazil, on the other hand, finished a huge 10 points clear at the top of the table with a plus-30 goal difference.

The PSG winger stopped in the mixed zone after he helped Brazil beat Chile 3-0 in their final group game and he was asked if he was happy about Messi firing Argentina to Russia, to which he replied “yes, very happy,” with a big smile.

Regardless of the Brazil/Argentina rivalry and the reports that Neymar moved to get away from Messi’s huge shadow, there is clearly still a lot of love there.

Barcelona and Real Madrid legend – not a common phrase – Luis Figo thinks although losing Neymar is a blow for Barca, they’ll be just fine without him.

“Big clubs always survive that kind of situation,” he said.

“It’s impossible that clubs like Barcelona or Madrid only depend on one player. But, of course, he’s a big loss, because he’s one of the best football players in the world. Let’s see how they deal with that during the season.”

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