Xavi challenges Christophe Galtier and Kylian Mbappe over sustainable travel

Paris Saint-Germain have been criticised widely without their manager and star forward committing further faux pas in public, but Christophe Galtier and Kylian Mbappe are under the microscope.

Ahead of their Champions League tie against Juventus, the pair were asked if they might consider using trains for shorter trips. They met the question with laughs and Galtier suggested they will look into land-sailing next time.

"We're trying to see if we can travel by sand yacht."

Christophe Galtier and Kylian Mbappe could not hold in their laughs when asked about PSG taking a private jet for a short trip to a game in Nantes last weekend 🤣 pic.twitter.com/UxIQvKtDFm

— SPORF (@Sporf) September 6, 2022

Following Barcelona’s 5-1 win over Viktoria Plzen, manager Xavi Hernandez was asked the same question, Marca recounted his response.

“We cannot be in a different bubble to that of society. Ultimately, we have to look out for the good of the people. We play for the people.”

“If the government or the Generalitat [Catalan government] propose it to us, as a minimum, we would listen to them and we would consider it.”

“With all the humility in the world, if we can do things to change society, we will do so. That is why Barcelona is more than a club. We would do it for certain. Vamos, for sure.”

Barcelona traditionally do fly to most of their games, although on occasion they have taken the train for trips to the North of Spain, such as Real Zaragoza, Huesca and Osasuna. Equally, they could be taking the short journey to Valencia by train.

Galtier and Mbappe’s response shows a gross lack of awareness of both the climate crisis and the cost of living crisis that many in France and around the world are experiencing. Football clubs contribute considerably to emissions in terms of output per person and just last week floods displaced over 33 million people, killing thousands.