I don't feel comfortable being compared to Messi and Ronaldo, says Neymar

Tweet

Barcelona ace Neymar says he does not feel comfortable being compared to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as he prepares to captain Brazil.

Messi and Ronaldo have dominated football, winning the Ballon d'Or the past nine times.

Neymar finished third for the award in 2015, and he has been tipped to win the next Ballon d'Or.

"This is one thing that I don't feel comfortable to talking about. I really don't like it," said Neymar.

Neymar will captain Brazil against Paraguay in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying on Tuesday.

"They [Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi] are two great players that in the last 10 years maintain the high level. They are two great players that I admire a lot and one of them I work with him at my side every day.

"He is the best player that I've ever played and I've been learning from him. I don't know if it is or isn't the right time, I just know that I want to be better than myself every day. Yesterday I went well and today I want to be even better and so on. I want to overcome myself every day and I do not want to be better than anyone, I just want to get better and better."

Despite being reluctant to discuss comparisons, he was happy to speak about his relationship with club team-mate Messi.

"When the Ballon d'Or gets to you, do everything calmly. Everything is going to fall into place. Play how you play, Do what you know how to do, and then everything will turn out okay," Neymar added.

"When Messi told me this, it was something that made me feel good. Because you have this fear to speak about it with your idol, and to speak to a guy that you admire, and when he lets you feel free, it relaxes you a bit. You feel like yourself on the pitch and during training. And this is what happened to me.

"We have a great relationship. We're friends. And this helps a lot on the pitch when you have love for each other, to help each other, to make a pass, when he scores a goal. So we are really happy. It's not just him, it's [Luis] Suarez as well who is a great player, a legend, so we get on really well there.

"One helps the other in all moments. And I'm really happy with the moment that I'm living, that's the best moment in my career, in my opinion, physically, in everything. Not just in numbers themselves, in playing football. I'm really happy that I'm maintaining all these games and playing really well and I'm helping my team-mates, which is the most important."