Will Mbappe and Neymar flourish together this season for PSG?
Paris St Germain's Kylian Mbappe and Neymar during training REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier
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Kylian
Mbappe will be the focus of attention as Paris Saint-Germain aim to continue
their perfect start to the season in Sunday's trip to Lille in Ligue 1.
Mbappe's
every gesture will be scrutinised and every move analysed after the World Cup
winner's attitude created headlines for the wrong reasons in his first
appearance of the season last weekend.
After
missing the opening two games, one in the league, due to suspension and then
injury, the France striker returned and scored in a 5-2 win over Montpellier.
Yet he also
had a penalty saved and then appeared to try, unsuccessfully, to persuade
Neymar to give him the ball when PSG were awarded another spot-kick.
In what was
his first competitive game since the confirmation after last season that he was
staying in Paris rather than joining Real Madrid, Mbappe cut a frustrated,
unhappy and even isolated figure.
That has
raised doubts in France that Mbappe, Neymar and Lionel Messi can flourish
together.
Last season,
Mbappe was PSG's outstanding performer, scoring 39 goals in all competitions,
while Neymar and Messi struggled for form and fitness.
Yet the two
South Americans have seemed rejuvenated this season, with the Brazilian in
particular impressing, scoring five goals in three games.
"He is
really happy," said midfielder Marco Verratti of Neymar, who insisted last
month that he wanted to stay in Paris amid speculation that the club wished to
sell.
"I
think with the players we have, when you see that they are happy, they transmit
that to everyone else.
"We
need these players if we are going to be one of the strongest teams in the
world. He is having a magnificent start to the season."
Yet Mbappe
did not look happy last weekend, although he was defended by his coach
Christophe Galtier, who insisted the striker was simply not yet fully fit.
"He is
a top-class player with a personality and character. Everyone expresses
themselves in their own way," Galtier said.
Sunday's
game takes Galtier back to Lille, the club he led to the title in 2021 before
leaving to spend a season at Nice.
Fixtures
(all times GMT)
Lyon v
Troyes (1900)
Monaco v
Lens (1500), Marseille v Nantes (1900)
Strasbourg v
Reims (1100), Angers v Brest, Clermont v Nice, Montpellier v Auxerre, Toulouse
v Lorient (all 1300), Rennes v Ajaccio (1505), Lille v Paris Saint-Germain
(1845)

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