Neymar vs Bale once more...

The World Cup qualifiers are currently grabbing our attention but, in one part of Spain, it’s a club debate that continues to rage, sparked by a Barcelona player. Full-back Adriano went on the record this week as saying that he believes FCB signing Neymar is at a higher level than Real Madrid new man Gareth Bale, a question many observers may have debated over the summer.
When making his point, Adriano went into some detail, specifically saying that he believes Neymar is better than Bale for ‘what he has done in football [already]', 'what he is to Brazil', and 'what he’s doing with Barca’, so we thought it was only fair to look at those three categories in our comparison. Namely, we examined each player’s past performances, national team performances, and performances with their new clubs.
Past achievements
Neymar’s club record in Brazil, despite still being barely 21 years old, is astonishing. Regardless of debates over the strength of the Brazilian league (and, in truth, those that belittle the Brasileiro's quality probably rarely see it in action), for the forward to score 136 goals in 225 appearances for Santos is an incredible achievement. That works out at a goal every 1.7 games, slightly better than goal every other game, and when we consider how important some of those have been it’s even more impressive.
In particular, Neymar’s record in the Copa Libertadores is astounding. The forward hit 15 goals in 29 Libertadores appearances, again working out at slightly better than a goal every other game. Notably, it was Neymar who opened the scoring in the 2011 Libertadores final and, after being voted player of the tournament, the young attacker was heralded as the key man in a Santos side which won the tournament for the first time since 1963 (back when Pele was their playmaker). The following season he fired them to a semi-final appearance, finishing joint top scorer in the tournament with eight goals, narrowly missing out on a second consecutive final after Corinthians defeated his side 2-1. Neymar elevated Santos to a level they had only dreamed of in recent memory, and his record in the tournament proved he was capable of performing against a wide range of opponents and a variety of different opposition tactical set-ups, something which certainly helped him in his quest for a move to Europe.
Neymar’s role in taking Santos back to the top of the pile in South America for the first time in decades was reflected in his individual awards. Along with the aforementioned best player of the 2011 Libertadores award, he was voted best player of the Brasileiro in 2011. That award came despite Santos finishing well away from topping the league, and was a reflection of the then 19-year-old’s individual brilliance. In both 2011 and 2012 he was voted South American Footballer of the Year, and in the case of the latter award, won the prize by a record 149 vote margin over second-placed Paolo Guerrero. Quite simply, Neymar was considered the finest player on the continent by some distance.
Gareth Bale’s importance to Tottenham in his latter years with the club is well known, but unlike Neymar, the Welshman’s was a story of difficult beginnings leading to incredible latter-day triumph. His club record for Spurs stands at 55 goals in 203 appearances, one every 3.7 games, but it should be noted that only six of those came in his first three seasons with the Lilywhites.It was only after Harry Redknapp pushed him further forward than his previous left-back position that the goals really started to flow.
Regardless of the impact of his positional shift, in truth, Bale was never prolific for Tottenham, with the exception of one season. His 26 goals in 44 appearances in the 2012/13 campaign marked a turning point, and certainly proved key in Real Madrid’s decision to sign him, just as Neymar’s Copa Libertadores record helped to convince Barcelona.
A hat-trick at the San Siro is often pointed out as Bale’s greatest individual performance with Tottenham but, somewhat ironically, his Champions League record isn’t incredible, standing at four goals in 12 appearances, or one in three. Evidently, Tottenham only appearing in one Champions League while Bale was at the club plays a huge role in that tally, but it is worth noting that his only other goal in Europe’s premier competition came in a 4-1 route of Eredivisie side FC Twente. The hat-trick against Inter was the exception rather than the rule when it comes to the Champions League therefore, and his lack of experience in the competition, and as a result, unfamiliarity with the highest quality of opposition and a wide variety of opponent is where he falls down in comparison to Neymar, who shone in the Libertadores.
Like Neymar, Bale has picked up several individual awards of his own. Twice heralded as the PFA Players’ Player of the Year, he has also won the PFA Young Player of the Year, and a place on the UEFA Team of the Year in 2011.  His PFA awards in particular are a reflection of how highly he was rated by fellow professionals in England.
International records
Neymar’s record for Brazil is impressive, with 26 goals in 42 appearances working out at one every 1.6 games. Some of the opponents to taste his wrath include Argentina, Germany, Portugal, Italy and Mexico. Notably, the forward experienced something of a coming of age with the Seleção at the 2013 Confederations Cup, where he shone above all else at the tournament to win the Golden Ball, and scored against Spain in a 3-0 final win that showed just how dangerous he could be against top sides. Until then, there were some questions over just how effective he could be for the national team (in part due to a lack of competitive games and Brazil’s habitually poor displays in friendlies), but the Confederations Cup showed a more mature, more complete player, and has led to increased expectations on his shoulders ahead of the 2014 World Cup. If Lionel Messi is Argentina’s talisman, the same can be said about Neymar with Brazil.
Clearly, Gareth Bale has a lesser standard of team-mate around him with Wales compared to Neymar’s Brazil colleagues, and important factor in his international displays, but none the less, the Welshman still has a decent record. His 11 goals in 41 appearances work out at one every 3.7 games. The list of teams to concede against Bale with Wales is less impressive than Neymar’s roll-call however. Perhaps the most notable sides are Serbia, Croatia and Slovakia, while Switzerland and Norway are followed by the usual list of European minnows. Bale’s Wales record has to be taken in context, but clearly, he has yet to take a big ‘scalp’ with his national team as would be expected from a €100m player.
Barcelona and Real Madrid performances
The real test for the pair was always going to be about how well they performed for their two new clubs, considering the huge expectations on their shoulders. In that area, Neymar has had a slightly easier start than Bale, taking part in a decent pre-season then largely avoiding injuries, while the Welshman has stuttered his way through niggle after niggle, only managing three games for Madrid. In order to make any comparison between the two players in Spain slightly fairer, we decided to look at averages rather than totals, therefore.
When it comes to their shooting accuracy, there is little between the two. Gareth Bale has a strong 50% in that area, while Neymar’s is slightly better at 52.2%. Keep in mind however that Neymar has taken 23 shots in total compared to Bale’s six, making the Brazilian’s accurate shooting a touch more impressive, as we have yet to learn whether the Welshman will keep his own standard of accuracy up as his shots tally increases.
In the passing department, Neymar also edges Bale. His pass completion rate of 87% is impressive considering he tends to spend a lot of time in congested areas of the pitch, beating Bale’s still tidy 76%. Neymar has also created 18 more scoring chances than Bale (who only created one), but that is more difficult to judge considering the Brazilian has played nine games to Bale’s three. What it does show however is that any concerns over Neymar's generosity (or lack thereof) have been put to bed, while the jury is still out on how Bale will fare while trying to play as more of a team player at Madrid, where he has the likes of Isco and Cristiano Ronaldo to share the pitch with, rather than being the sole star of the show like at White Hart Lane.
So what about dribbling? Well, Bale attempted dribbles more frequently than Neymar, trying one every 9.5 minutes compared to one every 9.7 minutes, to be exact. The Welshman was far less successful in his runs however, only completing 35.7% of them, compared to Neymar’s 51.5%. Observers of the two players won't be surprised to learn that Neymar is more likely to beat an opponent with trickery than Bale, but the Welshman’s low success rate also points to a lesser ability to keep the ball, which could prove particularly important given the habit of opposition teams setting up to counter-attack against big sides like Madrid and Barcelona.
As for how the two have fared in front of goal, neither are particularly impressive. Bale scored on his Madrid debut against Villarreal, but failed to find the net in his subsequent two appearances, while Neymar only has two goals in his nine games for Barcelona. That said, Neymar did perform notably as in terms of his goal threat in Lionel Messi’s absence against Valladolid last weekend, setting up a goal and scoring another. His ability to step up when the Argentinean isn’t present has allowed Barcelona to overcome a problem in front of goal that they have suffered from for some years. It remains to be seen whether Bale will be able to do the same if and when Ronaldo struggles for fitness at Madrid.
Verdict
In many ways the beauty of the Neymar v Bale debate is that it taps in perfectly to the existing arguments surrounding Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, and Barcelona against Real Madrid. One excels in tight spaces while the other presents more raw power, while dribbling is the domain of the Catalans compared to the explosive shooting strength of Madrid. What is clear from our study however is that there is no way that the near €50m difference in value between the pair can be justified as things currently stand. On the contrary, you could argue quite easily that Neymar should command a heftier price tag than Bale given their respective achievements.
The Brazilian’s Copa Libertadores feats outshine Bale’s brief Champions League foray, and it was there that he showed signs of a forward perhaps slightly more prepared to come up against a larger range of styles. That maturity in his game was reflected at the Confederations Cup, and has since carried on over to Catalunya, where he has adjusted to European football with minimal fuss. Bale, meanwhile, looked somewhat flustered in his most recent appearance against Atletico Madrid in particular, and looks more likely to take a longer period to adjust to Madrid’s demands, not only because of his infrequent fitness, but also the new found tactical variety he faces in Spain.
What Neymar has evidently managed to do at Barcelona is to fill an obvious hole in their team, providing someone who can both pick up the baton in Lionel Messi’s absence to lead them as a creative hub, and also co-exist alongside him when the Argentine is fit, completing a forward tandem that has looked brilliant so far this season. Bale, meanwhile, will have to work hard to prove wrong the suspicions in Spain that he is nothing more than a less experienced version of Cristiano Ronaldo who is too similar to the Portuguese to be truly game-changing for Real Madrid. If the Welshman can show those kind of doubts up on the pitch, then this debate can be re-opened, but until then, Neymar has proven the more savvy transfer, and has proven to be the more effective player.