Jean-Pierre Papin says PSG attacking trio 'aren't heroes' | OneFootball

Former Ballon d’Or winner Jean-Pierre Papin is not a fan of Neymar, Edinson Cavani, or Kylian Mbappé.

Even though they are the most expensive attacking trio in the history of football, their impact was minimal in PSG’s 3-2 Champions League defeat to Liverpool.

Papin believes that the Parisiens’ front three need to help out their team-mates more often.

“With PSG, they’re not heroes, they’re egos,” he told Le Parisien. “At some point, whatever your status is, you have to serve the team.

“There’s a difference between stars we see abroad and those we have in France. In France, we’ve got the impression that they’re impossible to manage.

“Why can Liverpool put their players into line and not here? When Neymar was playing for Barcelona, he defended from time to time…”

Papin, who was a star at Marseille and AC Milan among others, believes the forwards need to change their mentality.

“Quality is permanent, it’s in the DNA of these players,” he continued. “There’s no problem there.

“But they must come together, let everyone around him benefit from their qualities. They cannot care who the star of the team is.

“The club’s project is to win the Champions League. If the players don’t have that in their head, they’ll never win it.”

Papin, however, believes that it may take only one match to change everything.

“The type of match that serves as a switch. At PSG, they’ve never beaten a great team together. They are so strong…

“The only cement that’s missing is, after having crushed everything in France, wanting to crush everything in Europe.

“When I was at Marseille, every time we went to play a big European team, we went to beat them.

“Yes, in terms of footballing and technical qualities, they are much better than us, but in mindset, we were stronger.”