If the anomaly Messi didn't exist, the 2014-2016 Neymar would have been the undisputed best player in the world during that period.
I'm a bigger fan of Ney than most, but that last sentence is utter rubbish.
From 2014-2016 Ronaldo scored 173 goals and had 54 assists. Even if you ignore the second half of Neymar's 13/14 season and look at his stats from the 14/15 to 16/17 season instead he finishes with 90 goals scored and 61 assists.
CR7 finished this period with 227 goal contributions, whereas Neymar only had 151. If I was stricter and decided to use Neymar's calendar year stats from 2014-2016 this result is even more lopsided.
Neymar was also never the opposition's first attacking concern due to Messi, whereas Ronaldo was always undoubtedly the leading man in attack for Madrid. CR7 also won 4 of the 5 Ballon D'or awards from 2013-2017, 3 CLs and one Liga. In the same period Neymar only won 1 CL, 2 Ligas and his highest finish in the Ballon D'or race was third.
I would love for nothing more than Neymar to return, but the amount of disrespect Ronaldo gets on here is ridiculous. Cristiano is unarguably a top 5 player of all time, comparing Neymar to him is insulting.
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