Messi handed eleven ‘gifts’ to Neymar

Neymar must be wondering why he has not been able to share penalty duties at PSG after the Brazilian’s move to the French side.

Gone are the days when Neymar could look at his Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi, who would call upon the Brazilian and hand him the gift of scoring from the penalty spot.

There were often times that Messi would call the Brazilian forward to take the spot kick even while the former was on a hattrick.

At PSG, Neymar faces a different scenario. Edinson Cavani has so far refused to hand over penalties to Neymar who is believed to be the star of the team from Paris.

Lionel Messi had handed Neymar 11 penalties during the Brazilian’s four seasons at Barcelona. However, on five occasions Neymar failed to find the net.

During a 2014-15 season league game against Cordoba, Messi wanted Neymar to take a penalty because the Brazilian was suffering in front of goal having spurned some easy scoring chances. Messi was battling Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo for the Pichichi Trophy and yet the Argentine thought ahead and decided that it was more important for Neymar to score a goal.

Barca put eight past Cordoba and Neymar was put at ease after finding the net. Barcelona went on to win the coveted treble that season. The MSN trio conveyed harmony and it was an essential factor in Barcelona’s success. During the MSN era, Messi also helped Luis Suarez to aquire the golden ball by giving him several penalties. The Neymar-Cavani relationship on the other hand has not had the best of starts in this 2017-18 season.

The last time Messi handed over a penalty to Neymar? It was against Neymar's current team PSG. During Barcelona's historic comaback in last season's Champion's league round of 16 second leg, Messi chipped the ball over the defence to find Suarez with a guided-missile like through ball. The striker was fouled in the area and Neymar, who was already blazing with confidence and passion was handed the penalty. The Brazilian put away the penalty and Barcelona went on to score six past PSG and clinch the tie on aggregate.