The rise of Neymar has been rapid and slathered in hyperbole, making the Club World Cup final the perfect climax for comparisons between the 19-year-old Brazilian and Lionel Messi, as well as suggestions that Neymar might even be better. Except, instead of a showdown between the Ballon d'Or holder and the even younger gun pushed into being his challenger, it was a public flogging. Barcelona beat Santos 4-0 and Messi scored the match's first and last goals.
Neymar, meanwhile, was so anonymous that a publication back in Brazil published a "missing child" poster with his pouting face on its cover. To be even more clear, our friends at Bola Nas Costas explained the match with a handy bit of photoshoppery...
So, given all that, maybe the Brazilian T-shirt maker Huck's starry-eyed Neymar shirt with the text "Messi who?" was a bit premature. Or maybe it's now more appropriate than ever as a reminder that everyone needs to calm down with the comparisons, especially given the gulf in class between the two teams they play for and the competition they regularly face. Or maybe it's just a T-shirt.