Neymar Becomes 1st Barcelona Player to Win La Liga Player of the Month Award

Barcelona forward Neymar has been named the La Liga Player of the Month for November, becoming the first Blaugrana man to be awarded the accolade.

News of the Brazilian’s honour came via the Barcelona website, which noted the gong had been going for two years without one of the club's players being deemed worthy of triumphing.

Here’s the breakdown of players who won the award prior to the 23-year-old, per Bleacher Report UK:

Neymar is a deserved recipient after a tremendous run of form. The former Santos man showed he could lead his team in the absence of the injured Lionel Messi with some dazzling displays. He has scored an impressive total of 14 goals in the league already this season.

As noted in the article on the official Barcelona site, the award has been handed out a total of 21 times after being introduced in 2013-14, the season that saw Atletico Madrid clinch a surprise La Liga title. However, despite winning the league in spectacular fashion last term, with Neymar, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez flourishing, no Barca player had won the gong before.

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That’s despite some brilliant months from individual players, as the Blaugrana turned on the style to win La Liga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey in 2014-15.

In May this year, Messi scored five La Liga goals in total, including the winner at Atletico Madrid to clinch the championship. Suarez and Neymar also enjoyed some awesome months during the glorious campaign but were overlooked in favour of other players from across the division; the trio scored a staggering 81 league goals between them last term.

As reported by Pete Jenson of MailOnline, the fact that a Barcelona player had never won the award despite their excellent displays is suggested to be because the Spanish Football Association has been seeking to share some of the praise around other sides in the division. 

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Neymar was the standout candidate in November, though. He scored not only a stunning flicked volley against Villarreal in a 3-0 win, one of two goals that day, but also another brace against Real Sociedad and another goal against bitter rivals Real Madrid, as the Brazilian and his team-mates ran riot in a 4-0 win at the Santiago Bernabeu.