Between the two of them they cost more than
€157 million this summer, but any casual observer
tuning into Barcelona’s clash with Real Madrid on
Saturday would have been forgiven for thinking
Gareth Bale had left Tottenham on a free and
Neymar’s switch from Santos had accounted for
the lot.

The Brazilian scored the opening goal of Barca’s
2-1 Clasico win at Camp Nou and it was no more
than he deserved. A constant threat up against
Madrid full-back Dani Carvajal, the €57.1m signing
could not have wished for a better debut in the
Spanish season’s main event.
For so much of the summer and the embryonic
league campaign there have been questions asked
of Neymar’s compatibility with Lionel Messi in the
Blaugrana ’s forward line, yet with the Argentine
starting from the right-hand side it appeared that
his newest team-mate was liberated by the chance
to get at one half of Madrid’s defence.

The result was a 19th-minute goal which broke
open the contest and an entire evening of trouble
for the Blancos ’ back line. An assist for Alexis
Sanchez’s sensational second just capped off his
showing. The standing ovation he received on
exiting the field in the 84th minute could easily
have gone on for a few minutes more.
Yet on the other side of the coin there was Bale.

The Welshman, still patently short of fitness
following his world record-breaking €100m move,
was nothing more than a shadow. In a rejigged
Madrid formation, nobody looked more ill at ease
than the one man the change was made to cater
for.

So rarely seen on the ball, Bale was also left
wanting when his pace was needed to help put
Barca under pressure. About the only thing he
managed to achieve was winning his side a free-
kick when his 'hospital pass' put Cristiano Ronaldo
under pressure and resulted in a foul challenge
from Adriano.

It was only his second start for Madrid, and it
looked it. With no cohesion at all in the forward
line, Carlo Ancelotti was punished for his
experiment, and when Bale was replaced on the
hour mark by Karim Benzema it came as no
surprise that the visitors’ fortunes immediately
improved.

The following quarter of an hour saw the capital
club forge a number of good openings, including a
stonewall penalty shout and a fierce effort off the
bar from the French substitute. And although
Sanchez would wrap up the three points, Jese’s
late goal was a just reward for a decent final half-
hour for Madrid.

Bale will undoubtedly improve with time, especially
when he gets back to somewhere near match
fitness. But right now, he is a shadow of the player
he was at Tottenham and the pressure on him will
only build until he gets back to that scintillating
level once more.

What makes it worse in the short term is the fact
that Neymar has already hit the ground running
with league-leading Barca, and Saturday’s fixture
was a clear barometer of exactly how things are
going for the summer’s two biggest-name
signings.

The brilliant Brazilian and the weary Welshman
may both find themselves in La Liga now, but for
now they remain leagues apart.