Barcelona ace Neymar aims to be on the Ballon d'Or podium this year.

But he accepts it will be "difficult" to win.

"I hope to be among the three Ballon d'Or finalists. It's difficult to win it. If in the end I've never won one, it doesn't matter because I will be next to the best player in the world, Messi.

"For me it's easy to play with Messi, when you play with the best in the world, as you've seen, it's easy. And to be able to take free-kicks [like against Celtic] is a sign of the companionship. We understand each other really well, with Luis Suarez, too, and that helps us."

Neymar also joked: "Sometimes the best doesn't win. If the best always won, Messi wouldn't have to participate any more, I'd be out and they'd have to give another one to him."