Neymar hails ´great friends´ Messi and Suarez

Neymar believes “friendship and modesty” has helped to fire his success alongside fellow Barcelona forwards Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.

The all-star attacking trio helped Luis Enrique’s team to sweep the board and claim La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League glory last term and they have picked up in a similar vein this time around.

Messi and Neymar were nominated for the Ballon d’Or alongside Real Madrid’s current holder Cristiano Ronaldo on Monday, with the Argentina star favourite to win the prestigious gong for a fifth time.

Messi was also named Best Player and Best Striker at La Liga’s annual awards ceremony in Barcelona, where Neymar picked up the Best American Player gong.

“Leo and Luis are great friends, I hope to play with them for a long time, there are no egos,” Neymar told reporters afterwards.

The Brazil captain expects Messi to win the Ballon d’Or and feels Suarez should have been included to make it a clean sweep of Barcelona nominations.

He added: “Being nominated for the Ballon d’Or means a lot.

“Suarez should have been there too but Messi is favourite, he’s the number one for me.”