Lionel Messi, a seasoned player, made an attempt to end a feud between Kylian Mbappe and Neymar. Both of them are his teammates in Paris Saint-Germain. He served as a mediator for the two fighting each other behind the scenes.
During the Ligue 1 match, PSG had a match against Montpellier and the two star players had gotten into an argument with each other. They disagreed upon who should take the team’s penalty kick first. This was due to Mbappe’s attempt to score was saved by their opponent’s goal keeper.
Neymar added fuel to the fire by liking two social media posts criticising Mbappe. The posts explained and criticised Mbappe’s actions over that particular incident. One post alleged that Mbappe was dominating the team. There are rumours that his new contract would give him a stronger position in the club and would be placing his inputs for the decisions made for them.
Mbappe then hit back at Neymar by making a statement that does not put Latin American players in a good light. He claimed that Europeans know the game better and know how to play better.
Mbappe stated, “Argentina and Brazil don’t have that level of competition in South America, the football is not as developed as in Europe, that is why most recent World Cup winners have been Europeans.”
Of course this statement did not help the feud Neymar and Mbappe have against each other. However, Messi, being from Argentina intervened with hopes that the both of them would find a common ground with each other. It is not common for Messi to get involved in such a squabble as he is usually more of a reserved person when in the locker room.
Last month when the feud was still fresh, the tension in the locker room was intense to the point that Sergio Ramos interfered to break an argument between Neymar and Mbappe. The manager, Galtier, had to hold a team meeting where the both of them were reprimanded and had to apologise to the team for their behaviour.
In August, Galtier stated, “Mbappe is the number one penalty taker. For principles, I always define a second (penalty taker) who is obviously going to be Neymar. There may be situations like last week where you have to be smart. We have to see how one and the other feel. But that is different, the order is Kylian penalty taker number one and, if he doesn’t score, Neymar will be penalty taker number two.”