Paris – The spotlight will be on the two Brazilian stars Neymar and Kylian Mbappe as their team, Paris Saint-Germain, leads its host and runner-up Lille in the third stage of the French Football Championship on Sunday, especially after the controversy surrounding the identity of the capital team’s first penalty shooter.
The tension between the players surfaced during Saint-last Germain’s match against Montpellier (5-2), when Kylian Mbappe missed a penalty and then another was awarded to the Brazilian with success, preventing the French from paying it in some way despite the latter’s request.
According to press reports, Mbappe was not feeling well from the start of the game, when he hit a cross that turned into a goal by mistake from one of the Montpellier defenders, he did not celebrate properly, and he also took actions on the field that did not befit his reputation and failed his colleagues and club supporters alike.
And when Vitina, a Portuguese midfielder, walked the ball in the center of the field, with Mbappe to the left and Argentine star Lionel Messi to the right, he passed towards the latter, which Mbappe did not like, and he abruptly stopped sprinting into the penalty area to finish the assault.
Making matters worse, Neymar liked a tweet in which Mbappe was chastised for his behavior.
Trying to cool the air
According to local reports, the French club’s sporting director, Luis Campos, and coach Christophe Galtier met with the players in an attempt to lighten the mood, noting that the dispute between them occurred against the backdrop of Neymar’s knowledge of Mbappe’s desire to encourage Paris Saint-Germain to let him go.
Neymar liked a tweet that chastised Mbappe for his behavior.
Neymar performed admirably at the start of this season, first in the Champions Cup against Nantes, then in the first two local league matches against Clermont and Montpellier, scoring three goals and making three assists, in addition to his double against Nantes, while Mbappe was playing his first match after recovering from injury against Montpellier.
Galtier will return to Lille, his previous club, which he led to the title in 2021, at the cost of Saint-Germain in particular, before going on to supervise Nice’s training. Lille, managed by Galtier, defeated Saint-Germain 5-1 in April 2019, a result that Saint-Germain repeated last February.
Renato Sanches, Lille’s former midfielder, has just joined Paris Saint-Germain.
In his first three matches in separate competitions, he scored 14 goals while surrendering only two.
Lille, on the other hand, began his French league campaign well under the guidance of his new Portuguese coach, Paulo Fonseca, by earning four points in two matches, with a 4-1 win over Auxerre and a 1-1 draw with Nantes away from his home.
Marseille fans await Croatian coach Igor Todor’s decision on whether to include captain Dimitri Payet when he meets Nantes at the Veloderum stadium.
Payet, one of Marseille’s most important cornerstones in recent seasons, appeared in the first two matches of his squad, playing 20 minutes last Sunday against Brest (1-1) and barely a quarter-hour against Reigns (4-1) in the first stage. Matteo Guendouzi is his teammate.
Marseille fans are also anticipating Chilean striker Alexis Sanches’ debut appearance at the Velordome stadium, having been moved from Inter Milan.
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