Brazilian football star Neymar has disclosed tha t Kylian Mbappé was "jealous" of Lionel Messi following the Argentine's arri...
Brazilian football star Neymar has disclosed that Kylian Mbappé was "jealous" of Lionel Messi following the Argentine's arrival at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in 2021. Neymar shared this revelation during a podcast hosted by legendary Brazilian striker Romário.
Neymar on Mbappé’s Behavior
When asked if Mbappé, who recently joined Real Madrid, was "annoying," Neymar clarified:
“No, he is not. I have my things with him, we had a little fight, but he was fundamental to us when he arrived. I used to call him Golden Boy.
“I always played with him, said he was going to be one of the best. I always helped, talked to him, he came to my place, we had dinner together.
“We had some good years of partnership, but after Messi came, he was a little jealous. He didn’t want to split me with anyone. And then there were some fights, a change in behavior.”
Neymar and Mbappé both joined PSG in 2017 from Barcelona and AS Monaco, respectively.
Egos at PSG
Neymar also commented on how egos within the PSG squad impacted their performances in crucial matches:
“It is good to have egos, but you have to know that you don’t play alone. There needs to be another guy by your side. [Big] egos were almost everywhere; it can’t work. If nobody runs and nobody helps, it is impossible to win anything.”
Reflecting on Choosing Barcelona Over Real Madrid
The Brazilian forward reflected on his decision to join Barcelona instead of Real Madrid earlier in his career. Neymar said he has no regrets:
“I don’t regret my choice to pick Barcelona over Real Madrid. I went with my heart there.
“I obviously wanted to play with Messi! Barça was the team I loved. I always watched, since the era of Ronaldinho, I always said: I want to play there. It happened.”
He described the intense moments leading up to his decision:
“Those were intense days. It was 2 or 3 days where I wasn’t even training, just going from my house to the office to resolve this.
“It was Real Madrid’s people calling me from one side & Barcelona’s people calling me from the other. Both presidents were talking to me. I couldn’t rationalize. I imagined myself playing for both… But then my heart spoke louder. I ended up choosing Barcelona.”
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