Paris Saint-Germain boss Christophe Galtier has attempted to play down talk of a rift between Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
The duo, who alongside Lionel Messi form one of Europe's most deadly frontlines, made headlines last month when they clashed after Neymar ignored the club's spot-kick rankings and refused to allow Mbappe, who had already missed a penalty earlier in the match, to take a second spot-kick in the win over Montpellier.
And the issues between the pair were highlighted once again during PSG's 2-1 win over Juventus in midweek. Mbappe's decision to not square the ball to Neymar, who was in a prime position to put the game beyond doubt, in their opening Champions League clash has been heavily scrutinised.
But Galtier has insisted that there is no ongoing feud between the pair - and he also defended Mbappe's spur of the moment decision to not play in his Brazilian striker partner.
Speaking ahead of this weekend's match against Brest, Galtier, as transcibed by Goal, said: “The relationship between Kylian and Ney is good and I’m not waffling here. Having spoken with Kylian, who I think spoke about it with Neymar – they’re together in training exercises, they’re often together in the warm-ups. Yes, there was that match situation.”
He continued: “There are two moments to that move – the first acceleration where maybe he can give the ball but it’s a bit difficult, and the second where Kylian makes the difference, gets into the penalty box and doesn’t see Ney.
"When you watch the video it all seems simple. But you have two seconds to make a decision and Kylian is focused on the ball. But I’m convinced he’ll assist Neymar in the future and vice versa. I haven’t felt anything negative since the match regarding that passage of play.”
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Although both Mbappe and Neymar have both made fine starts to the season, their performances have been undermined by constant speculation regarding their relationship.
Mbappe is believed to have considerable pulling power at the club after he turned down advances from Real Madrid to pen a bumper new contract worth in the region of €100million (£87.5m) per year to stay in Paris. Meanwhile, reports have claimed that PSG made active attempts to offload Neymar this summer.
But Mbappe also tried to cool talk of a feud before the Juventus match this week. The Frenchman said: “This is the sixth year with Neymar. We have always had a relationship like this, based on respect, but sometimes with warmer and colder moments. It is the nature of our relationship. I have a lot of respect for the player that he is.
'When you have two players with such a strong character, you have moments like that, but always with respect and in the interest of PSG."
