Neymar da Silva Santos Junior had a wonderful ‘El Clasico’ debut as he scored the opener which put Barcelona in the driving seat. The ball may have taken a deflection off of Madrid defender Raphael Varane, but credit cannot be taken away from the Brazilian who had made a fine run to pick up Andres Iniesta’s well-weighted pass.
Taking that first goal into consideration, it meant three goals and one assist for Neymar at the Camp Nou this season. The Brazilian is beginning to have more of an influence with every passing game after a slow start and was the most dangerous player on the pitch for Barca. The goal apart, he had an effort on goal saved superbly by Diego Lopez and on another instance was thwarted by a fine challenge from Varane to prevent him adding to his tally.
And as he was withdrawn with seven minutes left, the Camp Nou erupted with chants of “Neymar…Neymar”; their newest hero had truly arrived.
David Marshall
Cardiff City’s custodian had a monstrous game on Saturday to ensure that the Bluebirds’ came away from their game against Norwich City with a point.
Marshall made a number of stunning stops to deny the Canaries as they bombarded the Cardiff goal, the best of which was a double reflex save to stop Jonny Howson first and then Gary Hooper from scoring.
The only time the ball did go past him was when Leroy Fer passed the ball into the net instead of to Marshall as Cardiff had expected when they put the ball out of play for an injury on the pitch.