Thierry Henry has leapt to Kylian Mbappe's defence after the Paris Saint-Germain superstar threw an on-pitch strop during a match against Montpellier.
PSG cruised to a 5-2 victory in Ligue 1 on Saturday, with Mbappe scoring one of the goals. But all was not well behind the scoreline at the Parc des Princes, as Mbappe made headlines with his performance on and off the ball.
Despite getting on the scoresheet with a simple finish in the second half, the 23-year-old striker had an early penalty saved and later appeared to stop running midway through a counter-attack after his teammate, new signing Vitinha, ignored his run and instead passed to Lionel Messi.
Viewers quickly picked up on Mbappe's sulk - as well as other selfish moves during the game - as he also appeared to ask strike partner Neymar to take PSG's second penalty, which the Brazilian refused to give up and scored himself, fuelling talk of a rift between the pair.
Henry wasn't for criticising Mbappe, though, instead choosing to defend the French superstar and claim that "there is always a problem" at PSG, following a series of high-profile fallouts within the club hierarchy last season.
"It's his place. He will of course have to show it [his best level] as he has shown from the start. But he has nothing to prove to anyone," Arsenal legend Henry began while on punditry duty for Prime Sport Video France. "The coach will have to find a way to play the three [Messi, Neymar, Mbappe] and make them happy... good luck.
"At PSG, there is always a debate, a problem. They won 5-2 and we're talking about Mbappe. Last year, it was Neymar and it will always be like that, it's PSG."
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Mbappe was starting his first match of the new Ligue 1 season after missing the opening-day win against Clermont Foot through injury. New manager Christoph Galtier described the Ballon d'Or nominee as "a competitor" when asked to explain Mbappe's behaviour.
"Kylian played his last game three weeks ago so I knew it was going to be tough on a physical level for him," Galtier told Canal Plus , via Goal. "He's a competitor. He wants to be good and he wants to be good quickly, but a top footballer is not on and off like that; it takes a little time to regain 100 per cent of his athletic abilities.
"When he's at 100 per cent, he'll make the difference even more. These are players who like to score, who want to score, who attack. It's a bit normal for him to be disappointed at being a little short physically compared to his teammates."
