Neymar has claimed that the 'MSN' trio at Barcelona is so successful because all three players 'know how each other think'.

International commitments and injuries prevented Neymar, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez from starting in the same team in the opening weeks of the new season, but all three started and finished Tuesday's Champions League clash with Celtic.

Messi hit a hat-trick against the Scottish champions and Suarez scored twice, while Neymar provided four assists and one goal as the Catalan giants inflicted Celtic's worst ever defeat in European club competition.

Neymar has insisted that his relationship with Messi and Suarez off the field plays a key role in their success on it and is confident that the trio will continue making improvements in the season ahead.

"It was special for the three of us to play together for the first time this season and we are very pleased with our performance. We are at a place now where we know the way each other thinks, the runs we make, the positions we will be in," Neymar told Goal.com.

"We can still get better though, our communication and understanding of each other is improving all the time. We are not playing for ourselves, nobody is looking for personal glory. It is always nice to score goals, but if I score, if Luis scores, if Leo scores, it doesn't matter - we are as happy creating goals for each other as scoring them.

"Our understanding on the field is helped by our relationship off it. We are all good friends, and I think that shows in the way we play. It is very early in the season, we can get better, and help make it a very successful season for Barcelona."

Neymar, Messi and Suarez scored 131 goals between them last season as Barcelona won a domestic double.

Written by
Matt Law