Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu defends Neymar
Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has come out in defence of Neymar, who is coming under attack from all different angles after Wednesday night's Copa del Rey win over Atletico Madrid.
"Neymar, provocative?" Bartomeu said. "What stays with me about him is his magic [as a football player].
"We are proud of Neymar. Ney is the magic in football and he demonstrated his maturity by not falling into any traps [against Atletico]."
But Bartomeu did not want to comment on Jeremy Mathieu's confirmation that there was a fall out between Lionel Messi and Luis Enrique.
"The team is doing well," he continued. "They are representing themselves well and are in a constant process of improvement.
"This team can still grow a lot. We are not going to get involved with controversy."
Asked about the prospect of an all-Catalan Copa del Rey final against Espanyol, the Barca president didn't want to look too far into the future.
"For me I would like to be in the final," he admitted. "But before that we have to get past the semi-final against Villarreal, who are a great team and will be difficult to beat."
