Neymar has revealed that he was blown away by Lionel Messi's decision to let him take a penalty in Barcelona's 8-0 demolition of Cordoba last weekend.

Messi had the chance to join Luis Suarez by netting a hat-trick against the minnows, but shunned the spot-kick duties to allow Neymar to get on the scoresheet.

Scoring would have taken the Argentine - who has 40 Liga goals this season - one adrift of Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for the Golden Boot, and his Brazilian counterpart admits to being moved by the generosity.

"I won't ever forget this detail," Neymar reporters on Thursday.

"Messi is the best in the world and he could have easily scored a hat-trick and yet he let me take the penalty.

"I am so very grateful for that gesture. I'm learning so much from Messi every day, both from his football but also these gestures."

The 23-year-old has 38 goals in all competition this season.