New signing Neto was another player who had impressed in the Joan Gamper Trophy against Arsenal, and the Brazilian continued in goal for Valverde against Napoli. Neto was assured in his positioning and made a few decent saves in the first half. Most notably, he denied Lorenzo Insigne with a fine save, while also saving from Dries Mertens a few minutes later. With the score still at 0-0, he helped Barcelona stay in the game.
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However, after the Catalans scored, Napoli responded with a goal themselves. Neto was unable to stop Umtiti from sliding the ball into his own net and the game was back to 1-1. It was from here that Neto came into his own. Early in the second half, as Barcelona tried to press for the winner, they were caught out on the counter. The Brazilian was out of his box in a flash, like a sweeper keeper on high alert, to clear the ball! Napoli should have been ahead had it not been for his brilliance.
The Brazilian continued to deny the Serie A side, making a few more stellar saves before Barcelona scored themselves. He already looks like a fine buy for the Catalans.
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About the author
Deepungsu Pandit
Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written over 8500 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5Million reads.
Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.
Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.
Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.
Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.