Five games, five wins, top of La Liga - on the face of it, Barcelona don't seem to be missing Neymar at all following his world-record move to Paris Saint-Germain.

Lionel Messi has been on fire in the Brazilian's absence, scoring nine league goals already and providing a further assist.

Barca currently boast a goal difference of +15 having scored 17 and conceded just two.

In the league standings, the Blaugrana are two points ahead of second-placed Sevilla and have already opened up a seven-point gap over holders Real Madrid.

Real, who have scored nine but conceded five in their opening five games, are languishing in ninth following their shock home defeat to Real Betis in midweek.

It's early days, but eight points is a lot of ground to make up when Barcelona and Messi are in such fine form.

So the question is, do Barcelona's players actually miss Neymar? It doesn't look like it on the pitch, but of course they do.

Speaking to EFE on Thursday, centre-back Jeremy Mathieu lamented Neymar's departure by simple saying: "That's football."

He added: "It's his decision. My opinion is that he left Barca because he was behind Leo. I think he wants to win the Ballon d'Or and at the moment he's happy in Paris."

Like Messi at Barcelona, Neymar has been firing on all cylinders for PSG this season, scoring and assisting 10 goals combined in his first six games for the club.

Barcelona's players have showed continued support for the Brazil international since he swapped Spain for France and now Ivan Rakitic has given his take on the transfer.

And simply put, the Croatian isn't happy. In a rather scathing analysis, Rakitic slammed Barcelona's board for allowing Neymar to join PSG, describing it as a "really bad decision".

He said: "For me personally, it was really hard, not only because he's one of the biggest players, but also, for me, because he's a big person.

"He was really important for our dressing room, and for me he's one of the best guys I know in football.

"So for me it was really a bad decision because I liked to have him in my team."

Barcelona's board came under a lot of pressure over the summer, receiving a vote of no confidence for the way they conducted themselves in the transfer window.

Rakitic has now added fuel to the flames with his remarks, but you can hardly blame him after losing such an important and talented teammate.