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'We do not need to all be friends or like a family' - Cavani unsure on Neymar's penalty comments

Edinson Cavani claims he doesn’t need to be Neymar’s friend in order to forge success on the pitch.

PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN STRIKER Edinson Cavani is uncertain about Neymar Jr’s claims that manager Unai Emery has made a behind-closed-doors decision as to who will be the French league leaders’ penalty-taker this season, but maintains his personal relationship with the Brazilian is unimportant so long as they can perform together on the pitch.

The South American duo aired their dirty laundry during last month’s 2-0 victory over Lyon, conspicuously arguing over who should take both a penalty and a free-kick in separate on-field incidents.

Speaking to SFR, however, Cavani suggested that it wasn’t important for him to cultivate a friendship with the world’s most expensive player, and that their spat had been left in the rear-view in any case.

“The penalty business, it is in the past,” the Uruguayan said. “These things happen in football. The important thing now is to find a solution together and to operate as a team. Ultimately, this is what enables you to achieve great things.

We need to be a competitive team, we do not need to all be friends or like a family. The most important thing is that everybody is professional on the pitch and gives 100 percent. Outside of that, everybody has their own life, their own way of being and their own way of thinking.

In a recent interview with Globo Esporte in his native Brazil, Neymar claimed the aforementioned ‘penalty business’ had been put to bed by manager Emery, saying: “it is already decided – it stays in the dressing room.”

Cavani, meanwhile, claims that if the decision has indeed been made, he hasn’t been informed by his manager.

“What is important is to win and to do that, the solution has to be the best for the team,” he told SFR. “The coach must decide what is best for the team. I think that it is the coach who will find the solution. When he makes his choice, it will be like that. Has he taken his decision? I do not know.”

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