Neymar: Barcelona taught us a lesson

Santos striker Neymar said Barcelona taught his side a footballing lesson in their 4-0 loss in the Club World Cup final.

Speaking to reporters after the match in Yokohama, the 19-year-old confessed that Pep Guardiola’s men were superior to Santos, but feels there is no shame in bowing out to Barca.

“I don’t know if Barcelona are unbeatable, but they are the best team in the world,” said Neymar.

“Today, here, we learned what it is to play football.”

“What we experienced in this match, we will take as a lesson. Today, Barcelona taught us how to play football.”

Neymar refused to offer his analysis on the match, preferring to reflect on Santos’ overall progress in the tournament.

“Now it doesn’t matter what we did or didn’t do,” he said.

“What matters is we got here going through many battles and challenges and got to be the second best team in the world.”

“Guardiola said that they lost a lot until they started winning. This is what Santos want. We lost today, but maybe in a year we can come back and be champions.”