Paris Saint-Germain boss Christophe Galtier has backed Neymar over Kylian Mbappe in the pair's feud, which began with arguing over who should take penalties for the team.
Mbappe and Neymar fell out over the order of penalty takers in the team during the Ligue 1 clash against Montpellier earlier this month, after the Brazilian did not allow his teammate to take PSG's second spot-kick after the Frenchman had seen his first effort saved.
So bad was the tension inside the dressing room that experienced defender and former Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos was reportedly forced to step in to separate the feuding pair – as cracks reappeared, in spectacular fashion, within the squad. The incident prompted the club, led by Galtier, to tackle the situation head-on by staging a first-team meeting in which the two were rebuked and apologised.
Fortunately for PSG, there was no repeat in this weekend’s staggering 7-1 victory at Lille – Ligue 1 champions from 2021 – as Mbappe netted a hat-trick and Neymar scored twice, but none of the seven goals came from the penalty spot.
Indeed, the bad blood between the two did not appear throughout the game with both not only in superb form but also complementing each other throughout the game – Neymar directly assisted two of Mbappe's goals in the second half.
PSG boss Galtier told Amazon Prime after the game: "Mbappe is the number one penalty taker. For principles, I always define a second (penalty taker) who is obviously going to be Neymar. There may be situations like last week where you have to be smart. We have to see how one and the other feel. But that is different, the order is Kylian penalty taker number one and, if he doesn't score, Neymar will be penalty taker number two."
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There is reportedly an element of rivalry between Mbappe and Messi at the Parc des Princes relating to the status of Neymar while multiple reports last season outlined the depth of the dressing room split in Paris.
Mbappe opted to sign a three-year contract extension with the Ligue 1 champions earlier this summer, with reports claiming that the striker would hold great sway in the club's sporting decisions as part of the agreement to extend his stay at the Parc des Princes. Indeed, the appointment of new sporting director Luis Campos could be linked to Mbappe as the pair know each other from their time together at Monaco.
The fallout of the weekend's incident has continued subsequently with Neymar 'liking' two social posts that slammed Mbappe over the episode. The first post included the sentence: "After the game, the coach said that Mbappe will be the team's main hitter for the season. An absurdity."
