Ligue 1 2017/18, PSG 2-0 Lyon: 5 talking points

#4 Bickering between Cavani, Alves, and Neymar takes the shine off a hard-earned victory

Cavani and Neymar need to sort out their issues

Neymar has been termed as the “crown prince”, ever since his arrival at the French capital and on Sunday night he threw his first princely tantrum. He insisted on being handed over the ball when PSG won a penalty. Cavani, the nominated penalty taker, wouldn’t take no for an answer and as a result, some bickering ensued between the new teammates before the Uruguayan stepped up, only to see his penalty saved.

That said, there was also the instance of Dani Alves taking hold of the ball to give Neymar the opportunity to take a free-kick. While competitive discord is welcomed at times by manager, it does affect the morale of the individual players as this kind of happenings makes the player, in this case, Cavani question his position in the team.

Unai Emery while acknowledging the tension between his attackers stated, “I have told them to sort it out between themselves, I think that they are capable of doing that and that they will both be our kickers. If they cannot reach an agreement, I will decide for them. I do not want this to become a problem for us.

One hopes that the antics of Sunday are of temporary nature as the attackers have shown their ability to gel with each other despite their differences as to penalty and free kick duties.