Former French Forward Makes a Case on Why Galtier Should Have Subbed Off Mbappe Instead of Neymar During Lyon Fixture

Paris Saint-Germain’s Ligue 1 away fixture against Olympique Lyonnais was quite a frustrating fixture for the current league leaders. PSG ended up scoring just once in the match, as missed goal-scoring chances coupled with a lack of chemistry in the final third marred its overall attacking performance on the day.

Over the late stages of the second half, PSG manager Christophe Galtier made a late change with his attacking trio upfront, subbing off Neymar for Carlos Soler. This was the third straight fixture in which Galtier opted to bring the Brazilian forward off of the pitch, and according to former French forward Jerome Rothen (via RMC Sport), he believes that it should have been Kylian Mbappe who needed to be subbed off instead.

“Mbappe had difficulty exploiting his speed,” Rothen said. “He did the Neymar thing, coming to get the ball, stalling, trying to combine. It didn’t work as well as in the other games, that’s frustration.

“In the second half, he went off twice by himself and lost the ball, and Galtier had to intervene and take him off with half an hour to go, leaving Messi and Neymar in the game.”

Galtier has had high trust in Mbappe as of late, subbing him off just once in his last four appearances in all competitions.

It will be noteworthy to see Galtier’s substitution plans in PSG’s Ligue 1 home fixture against OGC Nice next week.