5 negative effects of Neymar's departure on Barcelona

#4 Loss of compactness

Real Madrid humiliated Barcelona in the Supercopa de Espana

It is true that the Brazilian was the best player in the club within the five months that preceded his departure. Evidently, it was Neymar that was the brightest player at Barca in those periods, as he helped the Blaugrana to make history by leading the team to overturn the biggest first-leg deficit in the history of the UEFA Champions League when they trashed PSG 6-1 at Camp Nou.

That implies that the Santos star left the Catalan club at a moment when the team heavily depended on him. In fact, if you observe the dying stages of the previous campaign, you will notice that the team was being built on Neymar and the workload was reducing for Lionel Messi.

Hence, Neymar's departure affected Barca's compactness as they failed to maintain their level. This was evident in the Supercopa de Espana where Real Madrid ran riot and humiliated a sluggish Barca side. Even the outspoken Gerard Pique also conceded that Barca played an inferior game. After the first leg of the clash in which Real Madrid defeated the Catalan giants 3-1 at the Camp Nou, the Barca defender was quoted as saying:

“This is a long process and there is room for improvement but in the nine years that I have been here, it is the first time that I feel inferior to Madrid,”

“We are not in the best moment, either as a team or as a club. We must stay as close as possible and keep moving forward.”