Anthony Patch Cern

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Neymar takes to the pitch as he faces his former team, Barcelona, in the opener of his first season in the A-League. On that pitch, Neymar came up with three key passes which saw Borussia Dortmund lose the game of its life. Then he marked another chance which almost saw the French hero’s opener and even then it was not enough.

The Barcelona manager, Luis Enrique, is calling out this kind of heroics.

“I feel sorry for them – it was a lot of effort,” Luis Enrique told TéoMax. “You don’t score five in a game without effort. Only Christiane [Reguilon] and Veron’s movements were better than yours. It’s a fine effort.”

The Colombian international, who joined Dortmund from Barcelona’s youth system, had made a career-best strike for Real Madrid and he was warming up for Arsenal at the Boavista, but they had conceded three goals after five. He scored a late own goal but, before that the first goal was for a longer distance.

There are just two days left until the kick-off and that made things rather sharp for Philippe Coutinho’s late winner, but his future at Barcelona will be worth the wait, even if it is only for a while…

The match began with Veron almost dislocating Alvaro Morata, with Veron’s left hand behind his back. He set off with the ball and used it to power towards goal. In order for him to do this, Morata had to jump forward quickly to his own half, but he did not reach the ball.

A minute or so later, an intricate ball by Neymar and a quick cross by Gasson was shot on the edge of the box. The cross looked like it was falling in the air, but it was blocked by a defender and Morata’s header was saved.

As a defender, Willy Genesio, was sent off shortly afterwards.