NEYMAR A STEP AHEAD

THE BIG BATTLE

Forget the Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo debate, there is a new contender. Neymar has had a ridiculously brilliant season and has served up some special stuff in the Copa America already.

It's a three-way tie at the top of world football for me now, and maybe Neymar has been up there for longer than we realise. Last summer at the World Cup was possibly the moment he arrived at that very top table to dine with the elite.

You only had to wander up the Copacabana during the tournament to see just how loved Neymar is by the Brazilian people. He is well and truly idolised. But with that love comes pressure and at the age of just 22 he carried the hopes of the nation. So no wonder he broke his back during the World Cup.

It wasn't just the hopes of the football-mad Brazilian people that he was carrying – he had the likes of Fred and David Luiz plus a whole host of other sub-standard (by Brazilian measures) players who Luiz Felipe Scolari had picked, clambering on his back for the ride.

Neymar's performances didn't suffer – he was named in the World Cup XI at the end of the tournament. The only way Colombia could stop him was to fracture his vertebrae during the quarter-final between the two South American sides in Fortaleza, Juan Zuniga kneeing Neymar in the spine.

Zuniga apologised, but without their talisman Brazil were so useless they smashed all sorts of records for ineptitude, hammered 7-1 by Germany in the semi-final.

So in 2014-15, questions were asked: How would Neymar recover? Could he improve on a decent but unspectacular and in terms of trophies, unsuccessful first season at Barcelona? And how would he deal with the arrival at the Nou Camp of another South American superstar – Luis Suarez?

 Neymar's ego didn't take over, he got on with the job, helped make that spectacular front three work, and won trophy after trophy. He contributed 39 goals to the trio's tally of 122, and he was joint top-scorer in the Champions League.

On top of that, he has been a joy to watch. Yes there are goals, yes he can set up his team-mates, and yes he's a winner. But he does it with tricks and style that lift him to that higher footballing ground. He's a goalscorer, a team player and an entertainer.

He seems to play well for Brazil every time I see him, and if that's not true then it is a fact that his ability takes his national side beyond where it should be. Just take a look at his highlights from the 2013 Confederations Cup – his stunning goal in the opening game against Japan after just three minutes set the tone for a tournament Neymar dominated.