Rio de Janeiro: Lionel Messi has praised the "enormous growth" of Barcelona teammate Neymar since 2011, when the pair were opponents in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan.


Neymar and Lionel Messi. Pic/AFP

The duo this week returned to the Asian nation for the current edition of the annual tournament, which the Catalan outfit are firm favourites to win, Xinhua reported.