Kylian Mbappe cut a frustrated figure during Paris Saint-Germain's 5-2 Ligue 1 win over Montpellier on Saturday, with boss Christophe Galtier blaming it on a lack of match fitness.
France international Mbappe, making his first start of the season, missed a penalty in the 23rd minute, but created the first goal soon after when his low cross was turned into his own net by Falaye Sacko.
Neymar then scored twice – the first from the penalty spot – before Mbappe opened his account for the season with a smart finish at the back post after 69 minutes.
Debutant Renato Sanches added a fifth for the hosts late on, while Wahbi Khazri and Enzo Tchato Mbiayi were on target for Montpellier.
After a 5-0 win over Clermont last weekend, PSG became the first side to score five or more goals in their first two games of a Ligue 1 season since Reims in 1961-62.
Mbappe looked unhappy throughout the game and refused to celebrate his goal, much to the frustration of a number of his team-mates.
He also reacted furiously to Vitinha's decision to pass to Lionel Messi rather than him late in the first half, throwing his arms up in disgust and seemingly refusing to continue with the attack.
Galtier, though, does not believe too much should be read into it and says Mbappe is simply frustrated at being behind his team-mates in the fitness stakes.
"Kylian played his last game three weeks ago so I knew it was going to be tough on a physical level for him," the PSG boss told Canal+.
"He's a competitor. He wants to be good and he wants to be good quickly, but a top footballer is not on and off like that; it takes a little time to regain 100 per cent of his athletic abilities.
"When he's at 100 per cent, he'll make the difference even more. These are players who like to score, who want to score, who attack.
"It's a bit normal for him to be disappointed at being a little short physically compared to his team-mates."
Mbappe's penalty miss was just his second in Ligue 1, with both of them coming at the Parc des Princes.
PSG midfielder Marco Verratti attributed his team-mate's attitude to that miss and says he does not mind him sulking as it shows he cares about the club.
"Kylian is a player who always wants to do well," the Italy international told reporters. "I think that with the missed penalty he was sulking a bit but that's normal. He's a big player, he always wants to make a difference.
"When he misses something, he's disappointed, that's normal. But afterwards he bounced back with the first goal on which he was decisive, then afterwards with his goal.
"It's good when he is angry because it means that he cares a lot about this team, that he wants to do well, that he wants to make a difference."
PSG are next in action a week on Sunday when they visit Lille.
Ange Postecoglou speculation not causing Celtic to lose focus – Matt O’Riley
Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley insists it will not be difficult to remain focused on the Scottish Cup final amid growing speculation over the future of manager Ange Postecoglou.
Postecoglou has become the odds-on favourite to take over at Tottenham with one report claiming he will meet Spurs chairman Daniel Levy on Monday.
The Celtic manager batted away questions over his future on Thursday as he bids to avoid distractions ahead of Saturday’s Hampden clash with Inverness and O’Riley claims the players will not be sidetracked.
“It’s not hard, to be honest,” the 22-year-old said. “There is always so much noise in football. Even with players, with managers, all sorts.
“There is a lot of stuff in the media all the time but I personally don’t believe most of the things I see, just because I know how football works.
“I’m sure he is very happy where he is because we are doing very well.
“It’s just part of football. Media-wise, there is always something going on and I’m sure there will always be the odd surprise that gets thrown in, someone leaves that you don’t expect, someone joins that comes out of nowhere. You just have to be ready for whatever comes.”
Postecoglou has been linked with numerous Premier League jobs throughout the season and Celtic have shown the focus to stay on course for a treble.
“It comes from, first of all, the hierarchy, the manager and staff setting the foundation of what can we do today to improve and taking it day by day,” O’Riley said.
“If you think too much about the future or stuff that has happened before, that’s when problems start to occur because you are probably in your head a bit too much.
“As long as we are focused on the day-to-day basics of trying to improve one another then I don’t think it should be a problem.”
However, the former MK Dons midfielder understands why many Celtic fans are anxious about the future amid the growing speculation over Postecoglou.
“He has provided so much success to the club, and hopefully that continues, and naturally fans are attached to someone who brings so much success,” he said.
“The same goes for the players in the group right now, everyone had good seasons for the most part, so naturally there is going to be interest in players, but hopefully we can keep as many together and push on even more next season.”
Lydia Bedford takes Brentford Under-18s reins in landmark appointment for women
Lydia Bedford has been announced as Brentford Under-18s head coach in a landmark appointment.
Bedford has left her position as assistant boss with Arsenal’s women team to become the first female coach to take the reins at a men’s professional side in England.
The former Leicester manager is set to work alongside Jon-Paul Pittman, who will join as assistant coach from Forest Green.
Brentford director of football Phil Giles said: “I’m really pleased that we’ve managed to attract such talented coaches as Lydia and Jon-Paul to our under-18 team for next year.
“We undertook an extensive recruitment process for these roles. Lydia and Jon-Paul were the two best candidates, and thankfully we were able to finalise their recruitment to the staff.
“I’m sure they will excel, and we all look forward to working with them through pre-season and beyond.”
Kyogo Furuhashi ‘bullish’ about making Scottish Cup final – Ange Postecoglou
Celtic striker Kyogo Furuhashi is “bullish” about his chances of making the Scottish Cup final despite not training so far this week.
The Japan international went off with a leg knock during last Saturday’s 5-0 win over Aberdeen after coming off worse in a 50-50 with Dons goalkeeper Kelle Roos.
The 28-year-old has scored 33 goals this season and won a clean sweep of Scotland’s player of the year awards, and he has an impressive record in cup finals, with match-winning doubles in the League Cup in each of his two seasons with Celtic.
Boss Ange Postecoglou said: “Kyogo is progressing. He hasn’t trained yet. The plan is to get him out there tomorrow (Friday) and see how he goes. He is doing some individual stuff this afternoon.
“He always is, but he is still pretty bullish about playing so we will just see how he goes.
“We will be guided by him a little bit. We have done that in the past. He has had a couple of times, whether it’s with his shoulder or in last year’s League Cup final he went in with a hamstring that wasn’t totally healed and scored a couple of goals.
“So I will be guided by him. He is very strong mentally so if he gives us the green light we will put him in there.”
The only definite absentee is Australia midfielder Aaron Mooy, who has been nursing a back problem in recent weeks.
Postecoglou said: “(Alistair) Johnston is fine, he has trained all week and (Sead) Haksabanovic is back in so he is available as well. The only real absence is Aaron Mooy.”
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