Neymar spoke to reporters after the match with Barcelona in Yokohama, and confessed that Pep Guardiola’s men were superior to Santos, but feels there is no shame in bowing out to such a talented outfit.
“I don’t know if Barcelona are unbeatable, but they are the best team in the world,” Neymar told reporters.
“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.”
The 19-year-old then 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 continued.
“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.”