East Rutherford (United States): Neymar gave Barcelona fans a dazzling reminder of what they could be about to lose Saturday, scoring twice as the Spanish giants defeated Juventus 2-1 in a pre-season friendly.
The 25-year-old Brazilian superstar is at the centre of frenzied speculation linking him to a gargantuan, world record 222-million-euro ($256.8 million) transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.
Neymar had kept the guessing game about his future bubbling away after posting a picture of himself Friday looking pensive on Instagram.
However, on the field he put up a dazzling show. The Brazilian broke clear after only four minutes but saw a tame shot from near the edge of the area drift away from the goal. Barcelona, with Lionel Messi starting, looked by far the more threatening of the two teams with Aleix Vidal and Messi both drawing early blocks from the Juventus defence.
At the other end, Mario Mandzukic might have given Juve the lead on 14 minutes but his header from a Stefano Sturaro cross went wide.
The Italians were made to rue Mandzukic’s profligacy a minute later when Neymar fired the Catalans into the lead, playing a clever one-two with Paco Alcacer and drilling his finish past Gianluigi Buffon.
Nine minutes later and Neymar grabbed his second, picking his way through a static Juventus defence before burying a low shot beyond Buffon once more.
Neymar might have had a hat-trick three minutes from half time, when Messi floated a delightful pass in behind the Juve defence for the Brazilian. However, Buffon on this occasion was equal to the challenge and blocked safely.
For the Italian side, Giorgio Chiellini scored off a set-piece to reduce the margin in the 62nd minute.
