Barcelona vs. Ajax: Why Neymar Was the Catalyst for Barca's Win

Barcelona vs. Ajax. Tiki-taka meets total football. Rinus Michels, Johan Cruyff and all that.

A Champions League Group H game to savour and the first time these giants of European football have ever met in official competition.

Gerardo Martino would surely have expected a virtually full strength Barca to dominate their young Dutch counterparts, ably led by ex-Barca star Frank De Boer, and including Bojan Krkic.

Krkic still had something of a point to prove to his employers, having been hawked around Europe’s top clubs for the best part of the last three years, but the youngster was completely outshone on his second return to the Camp Nou.

Neymar had everyone dancing to the Samba beat on more than one occasion Wednesday in another simple and effective performance.

Lionel Messi will, naturally, grab the morning headlines after his fourth Champions League hat trick, but the Brazilian added to his burgeoning reputation once again, and deserves more than cursory appreciation.

Lest we forget that this was Neymar's first appearance in European football's premier competition, and he acquitted himself well against the Eredivisie champions.

De Boer had sprung an early surprise with the return of captain Siem de Jong, just five weeks after de Jong had suffered a collapsed lung, and he was joined in the midfield by the experienced Christian Poulsen.

The 4-3-3 set up from De Boer mirrored Barca's formation exactly, the Dutchman not frightened of standing toe-to-toe with some of the world's best players.

In truth, the first half was wide open. Ajax initially found it difficult to break out of their own half, but come halftime had already had a glorious chance to level shortly after Messi had put Barca ahead with a masterful free kick.

However, their play was anything but total football at times. It was more total defence, as we often saw all 10 of Ajax's outfield players behind the ball.

The first we saw of Ajax in an attacking sense wasn't until the half-hour mark, which suggests a damage-limitation exercise on De Boer's part.

Barca were hardly motoring along in tiki-taka mode either, but any attacking intent was being supplied by the boy from Brazil.

His overall contribution was as good as anything we have seen from him so far in the Blaugrana, most notably his transitional plays down the left side. The fluidity of play that has been missing previously was a joy to behold at times.

Ricardo van Rhijn and Niklas Moisander endured a torrid night against the youngster, and the yellow cards received for fouling him could possibly come back to haunt them in the latter stages of the group games.

Despite winning a third successive Eredivisie last season, this was the third successive Champions League game against Spanish opposition where Ajax had conceded four goals; proof, if it were needed, that domestic success doesn't always transfer easily to the European stage.

Neymar's 89 percent passing accuracy went some way to giving him an overall performance score of 8.2 (via whoscored.com), bettered only by Messi, which, in reality, was down to him nailing the hat trick.

Incisive and direct, Neymar was the "go-to" man throughout, and his value tonight was never better highlighted than by his exquisite cross for Gerard Pique to head home from close range.

It was a cross-field ball that actually found its target with ease, which is more than can be said for a number of players trying to mix it up with the long-ball game and failing dismally.

Barca were certainly a much different proposition once Messi had scored his second goal on 55 minutes, and it allowed Martino the luxury of being able to rest Neymar for the final third of the match.

The Argentine's careful stewardship of the Blaugrana is certainly paying dividends at this juncture, with Neymar a prime beneficiary.

He may not be scoring goals regularly, but he is starting to create them for fun, and the way he has settled into this Barca team must be a real fillip for all concerned.