Neymar made his long awaited debut for Barcelona tonight in a friendly against Lechia Gdansk.
The Brazilian superstar came on in the 78th minute, replacing Alexis Sanchez. In his 15 minutes, Neymar completed five passes, lost possession twice and drew four free kicks, one of which saw Oualembo get booked.
Neymar has been criticized for going down to easily, but that was not the case tonight as he was on the receiving end of some heavy challenges.
Lechia surprised the Primera División champions by taking an early lead through a header by Bieniuk. Sergi Roberto replied almost immediately for the visitors, sliding in a low pass by Montoya.
The Poles restored their lead through a wonderful strike by forward Grzelczak, but Leo Messi evened the score seven minutes later with a smart chip.
Lechia could have snatched a winner in injury time, but Duda was unable to convert from close range.
Neymar is now awaiting his Barcelona debut in an official game, which is likely to come on the weekend of 17 August, at home to Levante in the opening week of the 2013-14 La Liga season.
Of all the Barcelona players that competed in the FIFA Confederations Cup in June, Neymar was the only one who travelled to Poland, the day after reporting for the first day of pre-season training on Monday.
The reason is that Barcelona postponed the friendly, which was scheduled to take place on 20 July, because Tito Vilanova resigned as the club’s coach a day earlier in order to continue his battle with cancer.
