Barcelona full-back Dani Alves has said that his teammate Neymar is superior to Cristiano Ronaldo. Neymar and Dani Alves play together both at club and country level, with the former being the captain of the Brazilian national team.
“Neymar is more difficult to defend against. He has evolved a lot here [at Barcelona]. He doesn’t stop the flow of the game as much. He is quicker. He can dribble and he has magic,” Alves said in an interview with O Globo.
Trending
“It's more difficult to mark Neymar than Cristiano Ronaldo,” he explained. “I'm with Neymar every day and I'm against Cristiano every now and again. Ney has more technique, more of an objective, he doesn't put the brakes on so much, he's quicker.
“He has more magic, better dribbling skills. That's the main difference between the two. Cristiano Ronaldo scores a lot of goals, shoots a lot and shoots well; he's also good in the air. But he doesn't know much about dribbling [anymore].
“They have different characteristics, but the quality of Ney, I believe, is superior.”
The 23-year-old will line up with Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in January for the Ballon d’Or award, the shortlist for which was announced back in November. Neymar is also currently La Liga’s top scorer with 14 goals so far. And Alves believes that the Brazil captain can go as far in the sport as he wants and he will only get better with time.
“Neymar can go as far as he wants in football,” Alves said.
“There are some players who are touched with a magic wand. Neymar is one of those. If he wants to win the Ballon d’Or, he will win it, if he wants to be Brazil’s highest scorer, he will achieve it. He enjoys playing and is improving with every season. He’ll be like a good wine.”
Luis Enrique deserves to win the Manager of the Year: Alves
The right-back also pipped Barcelona manager Luis Enrique to win the coach of the year award ahead of Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola and Chile’s Jorge Sampaoli. Enrique famously led the Catalan giants to a treble in his first season at the helm of the club.
“Luis Enrique has won all of the most important titles this year. He deserves to win,” the former Sevilla player said. “He is a great manager and someone who is able to see beyond what most others can.”
However, the Brazilian added that Pep Guardiola was “without doubt” the best manager he has played under.
