Could Neymar be Barcelona's next rising star?

Barcelona’s striker Neymar demonstrated his ability to lead the team in the absence of teammate Lionel Messi during their Group E match against BATE Borisov in the Champions League by 2-0.

Neymar’s proved charge of leading Barcelona with the absence of Messi for two months because of a knee injury.

Defender Marc Bartra told reporters: “I think it is the case that Neymar has taken up a roll where he participates more in the build up of play with Messi not there.”

“He is playing well and with the quality that we have in attack it is important that players like he and Suarez keep scoring the goals for us.”

Barcelona’s midfielder Javier Mascherano also gave a statement to reporters saying that Neymar is a great player but Lionel is incomparable and cannot be replaced.

“Neymar and Suarez are among the best players in the world, they were needed to fill in a void that happened but this is also the responsibility of the entire team. We are not at our best and therefore need to do more,” he added.

Barcelona’s superstar trio – Neymar, Messi and Suarez, have a total of 122 goals between them.