Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe admits he was “affected” by Olivier Giroud’s complaints about his France team-mates not passing to him but insists he does not want to turn it into a big issue.
Giroud said after his side beat Bulgaria in a friendly that he was not receiving the ball despite runs into dangerous areas in the box.
The comments were interpreted as a dig at Mbappe and the 22-year-old says he would have preferred if Giroud had spoken to him privately instead of airing his grievances to the press.
“I spoke with Olivier Giroud. Everyone knows what happened,” Mbappe said at a press conference.
“It is true that I was a little affected by it. But we are not going to make a big deal about it because we are here to represent France, that is the most important thing.
“What he said didn’t bother me more than that, I’m a striker and I’ve had this feeling 365 times in a game.
“I congratulated him in the locker room, he didn’t say anything to me and then I heard from the press. He didn’t say anything bad. It’s more the fact of talking about it publicly, I would have preferred to let him come and be even more vocal in the locker room. But that’s not a problem, these are small trifles. The team does not need us to get in the way.”