French soccer giants Paris Saint-Germain yesterday faced an angry backlash after coach Christophe Galtier and star player Kylian Mbappe mocked a suggestion that they should take the train rather than private planes for short-haul travel.
PSG on Sunday notched up an easy 3-0 away victory against Nantes to stay top of Ligue 1 on their trip to the western French city, which is a modest 380km from Paris.
The Qatar-owned side boasted on social media that they had made the return trip with shirt sponsors Qatar Airways, but their travel choices have come under increased scrutiny over their carbon footprint.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Paris-Nantes is less than two hours by TGV,” Alain Krakovitch, chief executive officer of state-owned railway company SNCF’s TGV high-speed passenger trains, wrote on Twitter.
“I renew our proposal for a TGV offer adapted to your specific needs in line with our common interests — safety, speed, services and eco-mobility,” he wrote.
However, during Monday’s news conference ahead of the Parisians’ UEFA Champions League home game against Juventus, Galtier made light of the criticism, while Mbappe bent double in uncontrolled laughter beside him in apparent incredulity over the controversy.
“We had a chat with our travel organizers earlier to see if we can travel by sand-yacht,” Galtier said, of the sailed beach buggies popular on certain French beaches.
“Mr Galtier — we have become accustomed to more relevant and more responsible answers from you. Shall we talk about it?” French Minister for Sport Amelie Oudea-Castera wrote on Twitter.
Commenting on how Mbappe guffawed, French Minister of Finance Bruno le Maire said: “I adore Mbappe and it can happen to all of us that we burst out laughing at the wrong moment, and I think this was the wrong moment to burst out laughing.”
“We must all take climate change seriously,” he told BFM-TV. “It is serious, it is about our planet and about our ability to live on this planet.”
Le Maire added that Galtier’s ironic response was also “inappropriate.”
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who is waging a crusade to reduce vehicle traffic in the capital’s center, wrote on Twitter: “It’s not on to answer stuff like that???? Wake up guys??? This is Paris.”
The RMC Sport channel reported that PSG travel to games by plane, but also by coach.
The team went by road to a recent clash with LOSC Lille, and might also take the bus to upcoming matches in Auxerre, Troyes and Reims which are not far from Paris, RSC Sport said.
The La Parisien daily said that the team did not see rail travel as a viable option due to security concerns and problems of traveling by train at night.
“It is not the coach who deals with travel management, but he takes the subject very seriously, like everyone at the club,” a club source, who was not named, told RMC.
The controversy comes against the background of a growing clamor in France from ecologists for restrictions on private jet travel to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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