Neymar's 9 Greatest Moments (Ranked)

Key Takeaways

• Despite Neymar's many accomplishments, several people have questioned the player's ambition since his departure from Barcelona.

• Neymar achieved some incredible things with Santos, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.

• Not limited to domestic football, more than one of Neymar's most-impressive accolades are linked to his international career.

Neymar is a player that has many questions surrounding him, though very few have ever doubted the natural ability that he evidently possesses. The winger, who now plays for Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia, emerged as a teenage sensation in his native Brazil before stints with Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain in Europe.

Many have wondered whether Neymar could have remained at the highest level of football for longer than he did. His move to PSG in his mid-twenties saw many question the Brazilian's ambition in much the same way as it was debated when he moved to Saudi Arabia while still only in his early 30s.

Regardless of your opinion on Neymar's career, the Brazilian was certainly one of the world's best players at his peak. With such status, as can probably be imagined, come many records. Neymar is no different, the attacker having notched numerous impressive accolades as a player over the years. With that being said, however, which nine moments in Neymar's career have been the greatest?

Ranking Factors

• Overall quality - How impressive were the moments featured compared to those that weren't?

• Impact - Great moments can often mean little without reward, so how impactful were each of these entries?

• Legacy - How many of these entries contributed to the legacy that Neymar has looked to leave behind?

9 Domestic Quadruple

Paris Saint-Germain

It would be unfair to say that when Neymar moved to PSG, he was the sole factor in the club's dominance across the six years that he was there. The Parisians have spent much of the 2010s being the biggest team in France, having won 10 Ligue 1 titles since their takeover in 2011.

Though he didn't begin that period of dominance for the club, Neymar certainly helped PSG maintain it. The winger achieved two domestic quadruples with the French side, winning Ligue 1, the Trophee des Champions, the Coupe de France and the Coupe de la Ligue in both the 2017/18 and 2019/20 campaigns.

With these accomplishments, PSG became the first and so far only, at the time of writing, team to have won four domestic quadruples and are one of just 12 European clubs to have achieved that feat. Neymar scored in the 2020 Coupe de France final, his 14th-minute strike being the only difference between PSG and Saint-Etienne.

8 Winning the Puskas Award

Santos

Neymar's emergence at Santos saw him heralded as a teenage sensation. He was branded "the new Pele," a nickname that has worn down so many with the pressure that accompanies it. Neymar was different, however. The lively winger racked up goals and assists like a player far beyond his years, becoming a key player for Santos well before his 20th birthday.

In 2011, Santos faced Flamengo in the Brasileirao Serie A, a game that pitted two of the country's biggest teams against each other. Santos would ultimately lose the game 5-4 in a match considered by many as one of the league's greatest ties in the 21st century, with Flamengo spearheaded by a hat-trick from a certain Ronaldinho Gaucho.

It was Santos that had the initial advantage though, racing to an early two-goal lead. After about 25 minutes had been played, Neymar picked the ball up just inside the opponent's half, slaloming between two defenders and playing a gorgeous one-two with his teammate. Driving at goal, Neymar rolled the ball and knocked it past his marker, running around the other side of him to dink the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper and make it 3-0 Santos.

A truly sensational goal, the piece of individual brilliance from Neymar saw him nominated for the 2011 Puskas Award which he would win, with the strike offering a promising indication of the player Neymar would develop into.

7 Highest Scoring Brazilian in Champions League History

Paris Saint-Germain

In March 2014, AC Milan travelled to Madrid to face Atletico in the second leg of their Round of 16 Champions League clash. Though Milan would lose 4-1 and bow out of the competition, the Italian's consolation goal was scored by Kaka, who became the first Brazilian to notch 30 goals in the prestigious competition.

Kaka's record, though, would only stand for four years. Neymar hit the ground running for Barcelona in the Champions League in terms of goal scoring, something he would continue when he moved to Paris. In 2018, PSG hosted Liverpool in a group stage clash, beating the team who had lost the previous season's final 2-1.

In that match, Neymar scored PSG's second goal and in doing so, became the highest-scoring Brazilian in the history of the Champions League, overtaking Kaka and sitting above other legends of the game like Rivaldo, Ronaldo Nazario, Ronaldinho and Romario.

Neymar, now plying his trade in Saudi Arabia, departed Europe having scored 43 Champions League. Though, in theory, it is a record that Vinicius Junior could physically reach within his career, it takes nothing away from the magnitude of what Neymar accomplished in the competition.

6 Winning an Olympic Gold Medal

Brazil Olympic Team

The 2014 World Cup was Neymar's first, with the winger being Brazil's shining light heading into the tournament that many felt would be the Selecao's to lose, as they would be looking for a record sixth World Cup triumph, only this time, on home soil. Neymar helped fire Brazil to the semi-finals, where they would be famously thrashed 7-1 by eventual winners Germany.

Just two years after the Brazil World Cup, Neymar was selected as one of Brazil's three over-23 players for the Olympics, also on home soil. Wearing the captain's armband, Neymar guided his team to the gold medal match, where they would face Germany once again, though both managers downplayed the notion that it was a rematch of their infamous World Cup clash.

Neymar opened the scoring in the final, his free-kick sailing past Timo Horn in the Germany goal. They held their advantage until and after the half-time whistle, though Maximilian Meyer would level the match just before the hour mark to take the game to extra-time and from there, the match went to penalties.

Brazil converted all five penalties that they took, with Neymar scoring the fifth to seal Olympic gold. The victory meant that Brazil had won at least one edition of every major global competition they have taken part in and were the first home nation to win a gold medal at the Olympics since Spain in 1992.

5 Back-to-Back South American Player of the Year

Santos

2011 saw Neymar really come into his own as only more eyes across the world found themselves fixated on the young Brazilian starlet. Having helped Santos win their first Copa Libertadores in almost six decades and winning the Puskas award for a stunning goal, Neymar won the South American Player of the Year award by a record margin, an honour won by legends like Diego Maradona, Pele and Romario in the past.

The following year was another impressive one for Neymar individually. On top of helping his team win that year's Campeonato Paulista, it was also the year that Neymar reached the 100-goal mark in professional football, scoring the goal that met the threshold in February 2012, on his 20th birthday.

Voted as the best player in the Paulista and finishing with 20 goals, Neymar was also the joint top-scorer in that year's Copa Libertadores with eight goals, though Santos were eliminated in the semi-finals by Corinthians. That and being voted as the best forward in Serie A saw Neymar retain his South American Player of the Year award, the first player to retain such a title since Juan Sebastian Veron did three years prior.

Paris Saint-Germain

A player with mass amounts of potential, Neymar realised such ability throughout his stint with Barcelona. In his four years in Catalonia, the Brazilian appeared in 186 matches for the club, scoring 105 goals and notching 76 assists as part of the fearsome MSN attacking trio alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.

Such form meant that, in 2017 when Neymar rather abruptly left Barcelona, it was never going to be for cheap. Paris Saint-Germain were the club that he went to and the French outfit paid around £185 million for the winger's services, obliterating the world record transfer fee by almost £100 million.

Though players since then have gone for astronomical fees, Kylian Mbappe's transfer from Monaco, also to PSG, being an example, nobody has yet come close to touching the record set by Neymar upon his move to the French capital, another accolade of many for the tricky Brazilian attacker.[/b]

3 Brazil's Record Goal-Scorer

Brazil

Neymar made his senior international debut in the summer of 2010, though he was not selected to represent Brazil at that year's World Cup. Despite public pressure to include him, then-manager Dunga declared that the winger had not experienced enough senior football on an international level to be included.

Dunga left his role after Brazil's quarter-final elimination in South Africa and the following month, they played the United States in a friendly, a game that saw Neymar make his international debut. It did not take long for Neymar to assert his place in the senior side, quickly becoming one of Brazil's star players.

In the 14 years since his international debut, Neymar has racked up 128 appearances for his country, the second-most games of any player in history, behind only the legendary Cafu. In a World Cup qualifier against Bolivia in 2023, Neymar scored twice in a 5-1 win for Brazil, with those goals being his 78th and 79th for his country and seeing him overtake Pele, a footballing icon, as his country's all-time top scorer.

2 Winning the Continental Treble

Barcelona

Neymar's debut season in Europe was much about adapting to the standards of the game on the continent, though even with that being the case, the Brazilian still weighed in with 15 goals and 15 assists across 41 appearances in all competitions. Despite the talent of him and his teammates, however, Neymar won only the Supercopa de Espana in his maiden season with Barca.

The following year saw Luis Suarez join the club from Liverpool, the final piece of the MSN attacking triumvirate alongside Lionel Messi. It did not take long for them to click, with the frontline combining for a staggering 122 goals in all competitions. Domestically, Barcelona won both La Liga and the Copa del Rey, with Neymar finishing as top scorer in the latter.

Best of all, though, was their Champions League triumph that campaign to complete a remarkable treble. In what was only Neymar's second season playing European football, he was the joint top-scorer in the competition and scored the third goal of Barca's 3-1 win over Juventus in the final, the club's fifth Champions League victory.

1 Winning the Copa Libertadores

Santos

The Copa Libertadores is South America's most prestigious competition that sees the continent's best sides go against each other, competing for glory in a fashion akin to the European Champions League. In 2011, Internacional were the defending champions, though were eliminated in the round of 16 by Penarol, a Uruguayan side.

Santos, meanwhile, placed in Group 5, finished second on goal difference and advanced from their group. The Brazilians met America, Once Caldas and Cerro Porteno in the knockout stages, the latter having finished above them in their group. Neymar and his team overcame all of their opponents to reach the finals, where they would play Penarol, who they had faced in the tournament final almost 60 years prior.

Played across two legs, as is the case with Copa Libertadores finals, the first game was played in Uruguay and finished 0-0, with neither side able to break through the other's defence. In the second leg, with Santos as hosts, it was Neymar that opened the scoring just after the second half started and teammate Danilo doubled his side's lead with 20 minutes to go.

Though Penarol would pull a goal back, it was not enough to stop Santos from winning the game. Not only was it the club's first appearance in the Copa final since 2003, but it was Santos' first Copa Libertadores victory since the early 1960s, when a certain Pele played for the club. It was a truly brilliant achievement and perhaps a sign of what was to come in Neymar's career going forward.