Paris Saint-Germain are travelling by bus to a local game after Kylian Mbappe and Christophe Galtier created a media storm by laughing off climate change concerns.
The PSG boss and his star player drew criticism from Paris’ mayor and even French president Emmanuel Macron when a tone-deaf reaction to a question about private jets went viral in September.
The duo were asked about environmental concerns ahead of a Champions League clash against Juventus, having travelled 340miles by plane for their previous Ligue 1 win over Nantes.
Galtier responded: “This morning we talked about it with the company which organises our trips and we’re looking into travelling on sand yachts,” which left Mbappe rolling around in laughter.
However, the issue dubbed ‘Sailing Gate’ quickly escalated when Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo Tweeted: “Are you serious, responding like this??? Wake up guys???”
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire then added: “I love Mbappe – we can all have the giggles at the least opportune moment and it really was the least opportune moment. But we all have to take climate change seriously.”
Even PSG fan President Macron was then involved saying: “Everyone has to do their bit.”
Things then got even worse for the player and manager when it was revealed that they flew for every single one of their 19 Ligue 1 away games during the 2021/22 season, including their closest rivals, Stade Reims.
Reims feature Arsenal’s goalscoring loanee Folarin Balogun, and are only 88miles from Paris, with a one-and-a-half hour journey making it the least necessary for a flight this season.
And having learned their lesson, Galtier’s team will be travelling by bus for the first time since Lionel Messi arrived at the Parc des Princes.
“We are going to travel by bus, even if the bodies are tired,” Galtier said in reference to an away trip to Lisbon last match.
“It’s close to our house, we’ll be fine in our bus.”
News Summary:
- Lionel Messi ‘will be fine by bus’ as Paris Saint-Germain change travel plans after Kylian Mbappe laughed off climate change concerns, drawing criticism from Emmanuel Macron and Paris’ mayor
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