PARIS -- Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil superstar Neymar is 26 on Monday and the next 12 months look set to be possibly the most exciting of his career.
As fate would have it, one of the other two players comprising the three best in the world -- Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo -- is also celebrating his birthday on the same day, as he turns 33.
Seven years apart, the Portuguese is well ahead of Neymar in terms of collective and individual career achievements for now, but 2018 could be the year that finally starts to change.
After scoring in PSG's 3-0 Ligue 1 win away at Lille last Saturday from a free kick, Neymar has notched up 520 career matches already -- 437 at club level and 83 internationally, while Ronaldo was one month shy of his 27th birthday by the time he hit the same tally.
Neymar has already played more times for club (437) and country (83) than Lionel Messi (380/82) and Ronaldo (393/79) had at the time of their 26th birthdays and he has also scored more international goals (53) than his two rivals (35/25). In fact, he's only lagging behind Messi's total of club goals, having scored 268 to Messi's 313.
Statistically speaking, Les Parisiens' No. 10 is shaping up nicely. Although Messi is showing no signs of being on the wane, these next 12 months represent a perfect opportunity for Neymar to usurp Ronaldo.
By the end of this year, the Brazilian could have celebrated three major successes in his career with further Champions League glory, a World Cup triumph and the individual recognition that he craves with the Ballon d'Or -- just one year on from his world record €222 million move from Camp Nou.
Neymar and Ronaldo will go head-to-head next week when Real host PSG at the Bernabeu in the first leg of their round-of-16 clash, with the Ligue 1 leaders currently looking in better shape than the two-time European champions.
The Brazilian has been in outstanding form so far this season and is the only player across the continent's top five leagues with more than 10 goals and assists. Neymar has scored 27 goals and assisted 14 more from his first 26 matches with PSG, which is more impressive than his Santos (six), Brazil (16) and Barcelona (11) tallies at the same stage.
