Neal Maupay appeared to taunt nemesis James Maddison over the midfielder’s exclusion from England’s European Championship squad in a picture of himself smiling in front of a dartboard holding three darts.
French striker Maupay risked reigniting his feud with Maddison by posting the snap to X shortly after the Tottenham Hotspur player had revealed his devastation at missing out on this summer’s finals.
Maupay had riled Maddison back in January when he copied his signature dart-throwing celebration on scoring in Brentford’s 3-2 Premier League defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The duo exchanged words after the goal with Maddison telling TNT Sports post-match: “I just said to him he probably hasn’t scored enough goals of his own in the last few years to have his own celebration so he had to copy mine. Short story, but it ended well for us anyway.”
Matters escalated on Instagram when Maupay wrote: “More goals and less relegations in my career than James Maddison.”
Maddison, meanwhile, posted a picture of Maupay doing the darts celebration, alongside the caption: “A short story… COYS.”
Maupay responded, writing: “Ahaha rent free,” with kissing emojis.
He later told The Times: “He took it really personally, it’s funny. I threw a dart and he got so offended he posted my picture on his Instagram. But if I give a little something, I have got to be able to take it as well.”
Responding to his England omission, Maddison wrote on X: “Devastated doesn’t quite cut it. Trained well and worked hard all week but if I’m honest with myself, my form for Spurs when coming back from injury in the second half of the season probably wasn’t at the levels I had set which gave Gareth a decision to make.
“I still thought there would be a space for me in a 26-man squad as I feel I bring something different & had been a mainstay in this whole qualifying campaign for Euro 2024 in Germany but the manager has made the decision and I have to respect that.
“I’ll be back, I have no doubt. Wishing the boys all the luck in the world out in Germany, unbelievable group and lads that I literally call some of my best friends. I genuinely hope football comes home.”