FIFA World Cup: ‘Brothers’ Messi and Neymar are two games apart again, this time as rivals on a football pitch
Like two gigantic trees inhabiting a thin soccer field, the shadows of Lionel Messi and Neymar merge, no matter how hard they try to keep them to themselves. (AP)
Like two gigantic trees inhabiting a thin soccer field, the shadows of Lionel Messi and Neymar merge, no matter how hard they try to keep them to themselves. When Neymar united with Messi in Barcelona, all nerves and doubts, the Argentine put him at ease and together with Luis Suarez formed one of the deadliest tridents of this century.
When the shadow Messi cast grew too long, or when Neymar suspected it, he moved to PSG so that he could flourish and grow on his own. But four years later they reunited at the Parisian club, this time Neymar played the role of the gracious host. “We are just meant to be. I haven’t spent as much time with my family as I did with Leo,’ the Brazilian had said at the time.
Maybe they’re just meant to be. Messi is five years older than Neymar. He was already a giant leap to the pedestal of an all-time great when Neymar erupted. The Brazilian was never a competitor, but the heir. It was how Barcelona wanted their fate to unfold. Messi would leave for Neymar’s spring in the fall. But like fate and destiny, human ambition and the quest for the center, it didn’t come out on Barcelona’s best-written script. However, their fates intertwined again in Paris, once again casting long shadows and once again striking an irresistible chemistry. (READ MORE)