By Betsefy
Kylian Mbappe has described his relationship with Paris Saint-Germain teammate Neymar as “respectful”.
The pair had started the new campaign in sensational form, helping PSG score 24 goals during their opening six fixtures in Ligue 1.
As it stands, Neymar is outperforming his fellow forward, contributing seven goals and six assists in comparison to Mbappe’s return of six strikes.
However, on the second weekend of the season against Montpellier, Neymar went against team orders to take a penalty after Mbappe had previously missed from 12 yards.
According to reports, the pair had to be separated in the dressing room afterwards, while Neymar has seemingly liked social media posts highlighting Mbappe’s miss during that fixture.
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The France international, who performed a U-turn to stay at Parc des Princes in the summer, was quizzed on the situation during a press conference ahead of PSG’s Champions League opener with Juventus on Tuesday evening.
Although the 23-year-old hinted that there had been disagreements and arguments in the past, he has insisted that they remain capable of working in tandem in the PSG attack.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference, Mbappe said: “To talk about Neymar, this is the sixth year, I think we’ve always had a relationship like this based on respect, but we’ve always had moments like this where sometimes we’ve had moments that were a bit colder and moments that were a bit hotter.
“There are times, you’ll see, when we’re the best of friends and sometimes we don’t talk so much, it’s the nature of our relationship that’s like that.
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“But there is a lot of respect, I have a lot of respect for the player he is, the player he represents and the importance he has in our team.
“Afterwards, when you have two players with a strong character like that, life is not linear, it’s sure that sometimes things happen but it always remains in the respect and in the interest of PSG.”
Both players hold long-term contracts at PSG with Mbappe having opted to extend his stay at the club until 2025 earlier this year.
Neymar had been on a deal of the same length, but it was widely reported that his terms were automatically extended to 2027 during the summer.
