Neymar may not be backing down on Lionel Messi in the Copa America Final, but he is certain the Argentine slightly has the edge over him in one aspect.
In modern football, Neymar is considered one of the most skillful players to ever grace the pitch.
But like any other star athlete, the Brazilian forward is also well aware that someone could possibly better than him.
Neymar believes that former Barcelona teammate Messi and four other players are better “technical” players than him.
“I don’t know if I can answer that,” Neymar recently told Oh my Goal. “ With all the humility in the world, I consider myself one of the most technical players in football today. [But it’s] Messi, [Marco] Verratti, [Eden] Hazard, [Kevin] De Bruyne, I’m still missing one? More technical than me… Thiago [Alcantara]!”
Neymar and Lionel Messi remain fitness doubts for Barcelona ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup final.
Photo: Getty Images
This weekend, Messi’s Argentina and Neymar’s Brazil will face each other in the Copa America 2021 finals.
The said clash is highly anticipated as the two South American nations have had a deep history.
Like Brazil’s Pele and Argentina’s Diego Maradona in the past, neither Messi nor Neymar has yet to add a Copa title to their names.
All that will change as one of them will leave Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Maracana stadium as the winner.
Ahead of the important match, Messi acknowledged the fact that a Brazilian squad with Neymar in it will be difficult to take out.
“Brazil with Neymar is going to be very tough,” Messi told Sport. “We know his potential, of what ‘Ney’ [Neymar] does individually.”
Brazil center-back Marquinhos, on the other hand, is also already anticipating that the six-time Ballon d’Or winner will surely do whatever it takes to finally win a title.
However, Marquinhos vows to halt Messi from doing so as he thinks Neymar is more deserving of the prestigious feat.
“We’ll try to stop him [Messi] achieving this objective,” Marquinhos swore. “As much as Messi, we also have players that deserve this title, like our own ‘Ney’ who wasn’t there for the last Copa.”
“Brazil versus Argentina is much more than a simple game of football,” the six-time Ligue 1 champion added. “These jerseys make the world stand still to watch their games. That represents the history of Brazil-Argentina.”
