FC Nantes of France defender, Chidozie Awaziem has come out with a startling verdict that French whiz kid, Kylian Mbappe is a tougher opponent than his much more celebrated PSG teammate, Neymar Jnr.
Having come up against both stars in recent Ligue 1 fixtures, Awaziem issued his view about the PSG duo, and prefers to rate Mbappe ahead of Neymar.
Awaziem has faced the duo this season, and on both occasions he accomplished his duties with distinction, despite his team losing.
Awaziem has progressed nicely at Nantes since joining them on loan from FC Porto of Portugal at the start of the season, and his fine form has lead to talks about a permanent switch to the French side.
However, Porto are yet to give Nantes the go ahead to make his deal permanent despite giving them an option of buying him after his loan, though a fee still has to be agreed between them.
Unfortunately, Awaziem is currently out injured, but has taken time out to reflect on some of his toughest matches so far in Ligue 1.
He recounted the difficulty he encountered while trying to stop PSG’s stars, and noted that trying to keep Mbappe quiet was far more difficult for him than coping with Neymar during games against PSG.
”It was a nice learning curve playing against the duo. For every player that is the type of test you look forward to and even though I got praises for my performance against Mbappe and Neymar, I felt disappointed that we didn’t win.
”Stopping Mbappe was way more difficult for me because he comes at you with speed, strength and skills. You don’t know which way he will use against you. As a defender you expect to know a thing about who you are up against.
”Neymar is full of tricks, although he is quick, pace is not usually what he uses , and despite his body strength, he relies more on skills. So I prefer playing against him than Mbappe,” Awaziem recalled.
