Neymar doesn’t regret choosing Barcelona over Real Madrid: I wanted to play with Messi 

Brazil international Neymar Junior says he doesn’t regret his decision to join Barcelona over Real Madrid when the two Spanish giants were locked in a battle to sign him from Santos.

Barcelona finally came out on top, signing the Brazilian prodigy in 2013 and he flourished for four years.

Now, speaking on the podcast of another former Barcelona and Brazil great Romario, Neymar explained why he picked Barcelona over Real Madrid.

I don’t regret my choice to pick Barcelona over Real Madrid. I went with my heart there.

I obviously wanted to play with Messi. Barcelona was the team I loved.

The Brazilian icon also detailed how intense the battle for his signature was. According to him, he stopped training for a few days just to focus on deciding where next he wanted to play.

Those were intense days. It was 2 or 3 days where I wasn’t even training, just going from my house to the office to resolve this. It was Real Madrid’s people calling me from one side and Barcelona’s people calling me from the other.

Both presidents were talking to me. I couldn’t rationalize. I imagined myself playing for both… But then my heart spoke louder. I ended up choosing Barcelona.

Neymar's love for Barcelona

He also confessed his admiration for the Blaugrana even before making the move, stating:

I always watched, since the era of Ronaldinho I always said: I want to play there. It happened.

Neymar had four productive years with FC Barcelona, where he formed a lethal connection with Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi, known as the MSN.

The trio helped the Catalans win a historic treble in the 2014-15 campaign. In 2017, he made a world-record transfer from the club to PSG.