A flight to Nantes, 380 kilometers away, gets Paris St. Germain pretty bad reviews. Because both the coach and the star Kylian Mbappé reacted with amusement to questions about climate protection, a shitstorm followed. The coach rows back, but his player is silent.
The French soccer champions Paris St. Germain, after mocking reactions to questions of climate protection, have come to regret belatedly - at least in part. Coach Christophe Galtier apologized late Tuesday evening after the victory in the Champions League game against Juventus Turin (2-1) for his statements with which he had defended his team's short-haul flight.
"Believe me when I say I'm concerned about climate change and our planet," Galtier said. "I'm aware of our responsibilities. It was a bad joke at a bad time and I regret it." PSG superstar Kylian Mbappé, on the other hand, has not yet responded to the criticism, and a request from the AFP news agency to his management remained unanswered.
The anger was initially triggered by a 380-kilometer flight to the league game at FC Nantes (3-0) last Sunday, carried out with a plane from sponsor Qatar Airways. The club, which owns an investment fund from Qatar, praised the flight on social networks, which resulted in a shitstorm.
At the press conference before the game against Turin, Galtier and Mbappé therefore had to put up with a critical question about travel habits. Galtier grinned, Mbappé laughed out loud. "We spoke to our travel agent and asked if we might be able to travel with sand yachts in the future," said Galtier. Wind-powered buggies are popular on France's beaches. Mbappé merely stated that he was "not worried" about the issue.
There was also plenty of criticism from French politicians given the role model function of Galtier and, above all, Mbappé. Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera reacted via Twitter, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne made it clear in an interview with reporters: "It is important that they realize the world we live in, that they are aware of the climate crisis, that this is not a hypothesis for the future, but a reality in the present."
