Neymar backs Barcelona trio to pip Cristiano Ronaldo to Ballon d'Or

Neymar already has 14 league goals this season for Barcelona

BRAZILIAN forward Neymar believes he should be a Fifa Ballon d'Or finalist – alongside Barcelona team-mates Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi.

 

Neymar has never been named in the final three before, but since a €57.1million (£40.1million) move to Barcelona in 2013, he has widely been held as one of the world's best players.

And playing alongside Suarez and Messi in an attacking 'tridente', he has already netted 16 goals in 17 appearances so far this season, making him a strong candidate for the prestigious award.

"I think I do deserve to be (among the finalists) for what I'm doing. I would be happy if the trident was among the three. Throughout history we're doing, so we are conquered, all three should be there," Neymar told Globo TV.

 

Cristiano Ronaldo is the current holder of the award, having won it for the last two years and made the final for the last four, but he believes he cannot make it three in a row because Messi will win more votes despite the Portuguese having the 'best season of his career'.

Barcelona made his first appearance in almost two months when he came off the bench in El Clasico at the Bernabeu, a game Barcelona won 4-0 including two from Suarez and another Neymar strike.

The Argentinian's return means that once again Barca boast one of the world's most dangerous attacking corps, and already sit atop La Liga, with a four-point cushion to Atletico Madrid.

 

'El tridente' now make up the most formidable forward line in the world

And although Neymar now has a chance to add the Ballon d'Or to his CV and become the first man outside of Messi or Ronaldo to win it since Kaka in 2007, he insists that team trophies and improving his game will always be more important.

"I never played to be the best in the world or the Golden Ball. I always played to be better than myself, to always exceed my goals, always getting better. 

"Playing better, training better. To be the best in the world is a result of that work. If you speak of it today because my work is going well," he added.