Mauricio Pochettino plays down Neymar and Mbappe rift following bench footage

Mauricio Pochettino has played down reports of a rift between Kylian Mbappe and Neymar after the France international was caught saying that the Brazilian doesn't pass to him.

The former Tottenham boss has insisted that the pair have both been laughing and joking in PSG training ahead of their crunch Champions League encounter against Manchester City.

Pochettino has been tasked with keeping both the World Cup winning striker and Champions League winning forward happy following a summer of bumper arrivals, with Lionel Messi set to return on Tuesday.

And the Argentine might've been worried after Mbappe was caught on cameras giving an honest opinion of his colleague a during a 2-0 win over Montpellier on Saturday.

The 22-year-old was captured by French TV channel Canal+ laying down his frustrations in a chat with Idrissa Gueye on the bench, calling out Neymar.

He appeared to say: "He (Neymar) does not give me that pass."

With the pair in competition to be the main goalscorer for the Ligue 1 leaders, Mbappe has managed four goals so far this season with Neymar grabbing just one.

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"They are fantastic guys," Pochettino said of the attacking duo.

"These things happen. There are always things between top players, they are competitors who want to win and help the team.

"These things happen and I have spoken to them today individually and they have also spoken to each other. In training, they were laughing.

"Their target is to win and help the team achieve so if there is a small incident sometimes that can create a big wave that is actually all talk outside the squad.

"In reality it is a minor problem. It is really nothing."

PSG take on Man City at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday evening knowing that defeat would leave them five points behind Pep Guardiola's side after just two fixtures.

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