Neymar relishing Barca test

Santos wunderkind Neymar says his side’s Club World Cup final with Barcelona on Sunday will be an historic match.

The 19-year-old scored a great individual goal for the Copa Libertadores champions in their 3-1 win over Kashiwa Reysol in the semi-finals, and is relishing the prospect of taking on the Spanish and European champions in Yokohama.

“Not only for me, but also for my team-mates and for Santos this is going to be a historical and important game,” Neymar said.

“But I’m not nervous, I think I’m very calm at the moment.”

“Of course our opponents are a formidable team – I know that, but as I always say, whoever the opponents may be, I like to play my own game, and that’s what I’ll do.”

Bacelona have played down the impact Neymar could have on the game.

Pep Guardiola’s side reached the final with an easy 4-0 win over Al Sadd in their semi and are in a great run of form going into the clash winning their last five games and scoring 20 goals in the process.

“Neymar is nobody without their keeper, their defence, and their midfielders,” Barca midfielder Cesc Fabregas said.

“Football is a team game and although it’s clear that he is a great player, we won’t just be looking at Neymar.”

“If we play to our normal standard Neymar isn’t going to exist. We have to play to our strengths and not obsess over their players; if we do that we could end up getting confused and start choosing the wrong options.”

“We need to play like we did against Milan, against Valencia, against Real Madrid, we’re not going to change the way we play because Neymar is in front of us.”