“I remember that walk to it. It was the most nervous moment of my life. I couldn’t think of anything but ‘For the love of God, where will I kick this ball? Then God gave me the capacity to be calm and score that goal.” – Neymar on the Olympic gold-winning penalty.
Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior or simply Neymar Jr. had a mixed bag of a year in 2016. While he won important titles with club and country, it was personally an extremely low-key season.
The 2015-16 season
He started the year on a high finishing 3rd in the FIFA Ballon d’Or awards behind Cristiano Ronaldo and winner, Lionel Messi. He was also named in the FIFA FIFPro 11 for 2015 and after scoring 14 goals and picking up seven assists in 14 games in the La Liga. However, his form slumped in 2016 as he managed to score only 10 goals and pick up 5 assists in 20 appearances which is pretty underwhelming by his standards.
Also read: Lionel Messi in 2016: A comprehensive review
While the tricks and flicks were on show as Neymar finished the season with a Whoscored rating of 8.43, a personal best, his usual end-product was missing. It was the supreme form of Luis Suarez, who scored 40 goals in the league and broke the Ronaldo-Messi duopoly to win the Pichichi trophy, coupled with Messi’s brilliance, that included regular goals from dead-ball situations, that resulted in Barcelona winning the La Liga for the 24th time.
However, Neymar did score two important goals in a league campaign which the Blaugrana won on the last day of the season, finishing one point ahead of Real Madrid. The first of those goals was in February against Las Palmas when he tapped in a blocked Messi shot, that turned out to be the winner. The second one was in March against Villarreal, when he slotted home a penalty to make it 2-0 for the Catalans. The goal was crucial as the Yellow Submarine came from behind to eventually draw the game.
The Brazilian did relatively well in the Copa del Rey where Barcelona were the defending champions. He scored in either leg of the quarter-final against Athletic Bilbao before scoring the 2nd goal in extra-time in the final against Sevilla to seal the win and clinch the Copa del Rey for the 28th time.
Transfer Rumours
In the summer, Neymar was linked with a move away from Camp Nou. Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) were the rumoured destinations but the speculation ended with the 24-year-old signing a new contract until 2021 in July.
Also Read – PSG offered Neymar over 44m annual salary says agent
Later in September, Neymar’s agent, Wagner Ribeiro, revealed that PSG offered €190 million to sign him in the summer with a lucrative annual salary of €40m after tax. The agent also confirmed United’s interest and that it was Neymar’s preference to stay at Barcelona which prevailed in the end.
The 2016 Rio Olympics
(Video Courtesy – Football World)
The summer of 2016 saw both the Copa America and the Olympics taking place and after a request from Barcelona manager Luis Enrique, Neymar was left out of the Brazil squad for the Copa America. He was, however, selected as one of the three overage players in the squad for the Rio Olympics and was made the captain as well.
After the first two games in the group stage ended in goalless draws, Brazil thumped Denmark 4-0 to top the group and enter the quarter-finals. Neymar’s contribution as the team’s talisman came into question during the group stage and the Brazilian No.10 silenced his critics with a starring role in the knockout stages.
He scored a superb free-kick to open the scoring against Colombia in the quarter-finals before picking up an assist for Luan’s wonderful strike to confirm passage into the semis. In the final four encounter, Neymar opened the scoring in the first minute by pressing the defender and rounded off a massive 6-0 win against Honduras with a late penalty.
He was the best player on the pitch in the final against Germany, scoring a stunning 25-yard free-kick and taking the crucial 5th penalty to secure a first ever Olympic gold medal for Brazil and put the painful 7-1 loss to Germany in the 2014 World Cup semi-finals behind them once and for all. He relinquished the captaincy after the victory saying, “Today I have become a champion, and I give up the captain's armband. It was an honour to be captain, but from today I stop being captain.”
The 2016-17 season
Neymar scored his first goal of the 2016-17 La Liga season against Leganes in September before adding a couple more against Sporting Gijon. He then scored his 4th goal of the league campaign in October against Celta de Vigo and has been goalless in the league since then.
Also read: La Liga 2016/17: Barcelona need more from Neymar to salvage campaign
Meanwhile, in the Champions League, Neymar was at his best as he contributed a fantastic four assists in the game against Celtic in September. He scored his last goal in 2016 on 19th October in a 4-0 home win against Manchester City and failed to find the net for the remaining part of the year.
The improved playmaking ability is a positive for the Brazilian with Neymar having created 39 chances in the 2016-17 league season as per Squawka compared to Messi’s 24 and Suarez’s 20 till the end of 2016. Nonetheless, his goal drought is a glaring mark on the CV of a player considered to be among the world’s top five. In fact, 2016 was the worst goalscoring year for the Brazilian since 2009 as he netted just 29 goals for club and country.
Awards and Charity
The below-par year saw him miss out on the Samba Gold trophy, given to the best Brazilian player in Europe. Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho beat Neymar to the trophy and prevented the Barcelona man from completing a hat-trick, after he won the coveted award in 2014 and 2015. Further, Neymar missed out on the FIFA FIFPro 11 for 2016 and finished fifth and fourth in the now separated Ballon d’Or and The Best FIFA Men’s Player awards respectively.
On the other hand, the 24-year-old honoured the 71 Chapecoense victims, who died in a plane crash in November, by taking part in a couple of charity matches during the winter break in the last week of December. The matches saw other Brazilian stars such as Kaka, Robinho and Zico also take part to show their support.
So, 2016 was truly a mixed year for Neymar as he won the Olympic gold with Brazil and stepped up as chief creator, on the one hand, while his shooting boots went missing on the other. The 24-year-old finally ended his goal drought in the Copa del Rey tie against Athletic Bilbao on January 11th this year and will be hoping to regain the sensational form that made him one of the world’s best and the heir to Brazil’s greatest ever player, Pele.
(Video Courtesy – Javier Nathaniel)
