French football giants Paris Saint-Germain faced an angry backlash Tuesday 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 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 380 kilometres (240 miles) 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 the carbon footprint.
“Paris-Nantes is less than two hours by TGV,” said Alain Krakovitch, the head of state-owned railway company SNCF’s TGV high-speed passenger trains, on Twitter.