Paris Saint-Germain coach Christophe Galtier has played down suggestions of a rift between star forwards Kylian Mbappe and Neymar after last week’s victory over Montpellier.
After Mbappe missed a penalty midway through the first half, Neymar grabbed the ball and insisted on taking responsibility when PSG were awarded a second penalty.
Following a discussion between the two, Neymar took and scored the kick though Mbappe did not celebrate with his teammate. Following the game, Neymar liked some tweets that criticised the choice of Mbappe as the No. 1 penalty taker.
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“There is no discomfort, it’s fine,” Galtier said at a news conference ahead of Sunday’s visit to Lille. “Of course, we quickly met the next day to iron out all that and say what we had to say to each other. That’s why there is no malaise and I confirm it with a lot of sincerity, we had a very pleasant week of work where everyone worked to prepare the match against Lille.”
Sources told ESPN that Mbappe didn’t like the way Neymar took the ball immediately for the second penalty. Mbappe was also said to have experienced some off-field problems in the days leading up to the visit of Montpellier that had an impact on his mood during the match.
