Stamping his mark: Neymar emerges as man to lead Barcelona in El Clasico

Lionel Messi is fit to play in Saturday's El Clasico against Real Madrid, and under any other circumstance he probably would. But Barcelona has done just fine since he tore a ligament in his left knee in September, winning all but one of its eight matches, and Neymar is a big reason why.

It was the first real chance for the Brazilian to prove himself as more than just a valet for Messi, more than an heir, more than the future. He could finally step into the present and claim this team as his, even if briefly.

Not that this next step was free of obstacles. Just as Messi got injured, a judge in Sao Paulo froze $47.6 million of Neymar's assets, including property and vehicles. The tax authorities in Spain, too, kept pursuing the player and his family in a separate case of tax evasion. His father, Neymar Sr., refused to commit his son to Barcelona long term. Rumours of a transfer persisted.

And all the while, he scored and scored - more than anyone else in La Liga. With 10 goals and six assists in Messi's absence, Neymar became the focal point of an attack that is so often used to one.

Suddenly, Neymar was receiving the ball a lot more in all positions on the pitch. With Messi in the first five matches of the season, Neymar had averaged 77 touches; in his last five without him, his average went up to 100.

But he didn't forget his teammates along the way, especially Luis Suarez, who makes up the third point of the deadly trio that scored 122 goals in 2014-15. Leadership could have come from any one of Barcelona's senators - Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Andreas Iniesta - but it also came from Neymar.

All the goals were going his way, and in the Nov. 8 meeting with Villarreal, Neymar stepped aside and handed Suarez the opportunity to take a penalty Barcelona had just earned. It was the same gesture Messi showed to Neymar months earlier - a moment, 23-year-old later said, that he won't ever forget.

Back in May, nearing the end of the campaign, Messi was in a fight to be La Liga's top scorer, but he deferred to his Brazilian teammate.

"He could have scored a hat trick, but he let me score. He is the best in the world, and I really appreciate it," Neymar said following an 8-0 thrashing of Cordoba. "Every day I learn from Messi and from my teammates. I learn from gestures like this."

He was now the one expressing a token of good faith.

It's clear that Messi has had an effect on Neymar on a personal level, but it's also a matter of the 23-year-old being patient with the process at Barcelona and waiting for his turn.

It finally came, just as the penalty did on that spring day.