Neymar joined Barcelona in the summer of 2013 and took his time to settle in the Spanish league, having spent his entire career until then in the Brazilian league. The youngster’s introduction into European football was not a failure by any means, as he notched 15 goals and as many assists from his 41 appearances across all competitions for the Blaugrana. However, he really came into his own in his second season at the Camp Nou.
In the summer of 2014, the South American duo of Neymar and Lionel Messi was joined by Uruguay international Luis Suarez, who landed at the Catalan club from English giants Liverpool. Due to his on-field misdemeanours at the World Cup in Brazil, the forward was suspended upon his arrival in Catalonia, but once he found his feat in the Spanish league, the three South Americans formed one of the deadliest forward trios the football world has ever seen.
In their first season together, the trio went on to notch an unprecedented 122 goals across all competitions, a record tally for any trio in the history of Spanish football, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain and Karim Benzema’s haul of 118 strikes. Messi led the pack with 58 strikes; Neymar had 39, while Suarez notched 25 despite missing first two months of the season due to his suspension.
For their goal deluge, one record that got overlooked was that the trio assisted 55 goals, which also highlighted the chemistry that they shared on the pitch despite each of them being goalscorer par excellence.
Neymar proved himself to be a player for the big stage as he notched at least a goal in both legs of the quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain, both legs of the semi-final against Bayern Munich as well as in the final against Juventus in Berlin to help the Catalan giants become European champions for a fifth time in their history. Neymar’s rise to fame from a skinny young boy to one of the legends of the game has been sensational so far.
The trio have continued their prolific scoring in the current season and by the end of November their tally for 2015 read 125 goals, same number as the entire Bayern Munich team and more than any other team in European football.
If they keep scoring at the same pace, many more records are bound to fall in the coming years.
Here are the trio’s top 30 goals in 2014/15 season, courtesy of the Youtuber – JavierNathaniel
Wasi is a keen fan with loads of knowledge about the game. He has written for some of the world’s leading soccer websites and is a major Barcelona and Pune City FC fan. He loves the Champions League and watches 200+ EPL games & La Liga games per season.
26.12.18 link