Thomas Vermaelen believes Neymar is helping to fill the massive gap left by Lionel Messi in Barcelona’s side.
The Argentine has been out injured with a knee problem and is set to miss the next few weeks too.
Neymar and Luis Suarez have scored 14 times between them in the star’s absence.
Vermaelen said: “I think Neymar is playing very well this season, scoring a lot of goals. We are missing Leo for the last few games, we’d rather have him on the pitch, for me he’s the best in the world.
“But we have a lot of players, good depth and Neymar is one of them. He has stepped up and he’s important, decisive for us at the moment.”
On the team’s defending: “Defending is an important part of the game, in some games we’ve not done as well as last season. We have been working on it on the training pitch a lot, it’s improved in the last couple of games. It’s important to defend well as a team and we are improving.”
Bravo or Ter Stegen? “They’re both world class goalkeepers, showed that last season and this season, both deserve to play for FC Barcelona. Last season they rotated and they both did tremendously well. It’s difficult to see the differences, but both are very important for this team.”
Competition: “There’s a lot of players in the CB position here, but we know there are a lot of games and I think we need all the players and all the squad. What can I offer different? We want to fit into the team as well as we can with the qualities we have. We all want to play the same.
Esteladas: “For me it is difficult to have an opinion,I have not really thought about it. I know the club is managing the situation, I don’t feel as a player I should interfere, it’s up to the club and the officials to deal with. I’m just focusing on the game.”