Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) superstar Neymar appears to have expressed his frustration over being the second-choice penalty taker for the Parisians on social media.
PSG continued their fine start to the season, beating Montpellier in Ligue 1 on Saturday (August 13). They steamrolled past Olivier Dall’Oglio’s side as they handed them a 5-2 thrashing.
Falaye Sacko’s own goal opened the scoring for Christophe Galtier’s side in the first half. Neymar (X2), Kylian Mbappe and Renato Sanches went on to add to Montpellier’s woes. Wahbi Khazri and Enzo Gianni Tchato Mbiayi netted for La Paillade.
Neymar, who has now scored and assisted three goals each in two Ligue 1 games this term, thus maintained his fine form. However, Saturday’s match seemingly was not entirely pleasant for him.
The Brazil international scored his first goal of the night from the penalty spot. However, it is worth noting that Mbappe was preferred over him when Galtier’s side earned a spotkick earlier in the match.
PSG’s decision to allow the France international to take the penalty when the Brazilian was on the pitch appears to have upset him. The 30-year-old lodged his protest by liking a post on Twitter that reads:
“Now it’s official, Mbappe is the one who takes the penalties at PSG. Clearly, this is a contract thing because, in no club in the world that has Neymar would he be the second taker, none! It seems that because of the contract, Mbappe is the owner of PSG!”
The forward seemingly clarified his stance by interacting with two other similar tweets. One of the posts, by @portalbrasilfut, reads:
“Today, in the PSG game, Neymar scored and humiliated the goalkeeper (once again) in the penalty kick. Mbappe, on the other hand, hit very badly and missed. After the game, the coach said that Mbappe will be the team’s main taker for the season. An absurdity!”
The third tweet in question hailed the former Barcelona forward as the best penalty taker in the world.
PSG boss Galtier confirms Mbappe was preferred over Neymar for Montpellier match
Galtier was questioned about his preferred penalty taker after the victory over Montpellier. He revealed that Mbappe was his first-choice option for the match, while the Brazilian was second in the pecking order. He told a press conference:
“The penalty? The order was respected for this match! Kylian was in 1, Ney was in 2. Things were respected”
It is worth noting that Neymar scored a penalty for the Parisians in their 4-0 win against Nantes in the Trophee des Champions last month. Mbappe was not in the squad for that match.
It now remains to be seen if the Brazilian’s actions will lead to problems at the Parc des Princes.