Bowing under green pressure! The Parisians finally give in and ditch their beloved aeroplane
Reading Time: 2min | Fri. 07.10.22. | 17:10
We'll travel to Reims by bus, proudly says the PSG coach
Just three days after a hard-fought draw at Benfica in Portugal, Paris Saint-Germain team will travel to their next Ligue 1 game by bus. The club and their coach Christophe Galtier have previously been slated for travelling to each away match by aeroplane and thus producing a large CO2 footprint.
The change in the Parisian ways was declared with pride by Galtier ahead of the press conference on Friday afternoon.
"We will travel by bus, even if the bodies are tired. It's close to our house, we'll be fine in our bus."
It looks like the former Nice coach learned his lesson after he had sparked a national debate about whether it's OK for a football team to fly to each destination, no matter how close it is. In early September, he jokingly suggested that his team would travel "by sand yacht" to limit its CO2 emissions."
Last season, PSG flew for each of its 19 Ligue 1 trips, including to Reims, located just 170 km from their training centre. Maybe the public outrage helped the environment a bit - even if it's more of an empty gesture to appease the media.
Regardless of the mean of transport, Galtier will have to make do without several important players. He'll be deprived of Lionel Messi, Presnel Kimpembe and Nuno Mendes before the trip to Stade Auguste-Delaune. The coach called the calendar "hellish".
"The calendar is hellish with the sequence of matches. There was the international break, where all but four of our players went away, so we had little recovery time. There are many things we have to do to prevent fatigue and muscle problems. But this sequence is dangerous for the physical state of the players."
Messi came off after 80 minutes in Lisbon with a calf problem and will miss the trip to the place where he played his first-ever Ligue 1 game. Still, the Parisians will be the favourites against Oscar Garcia's team.
LIGUE 1 - MATCHDAY 10
Friday
22.00: (1.60) Olympique Lyon (4.30) Toulouse (6.25)
Saturday
18.00: (1.40) Marseille (5.10) Ajaccio (10.0)
22.00: (7.75) Reims (4.80) PSG (1.44)
Sunday
14.00: (4.00) Montpellier (3.60) Monaco (2.04)
16.00: (2.78) Angers (3.20) Strasbourg (2.75)
16.00: (2.50) Brest (3.35) Lorient (3.05)
16.00: (2.19) Clermont (3.40) Auxerre (3.70)
16.00: (1.89) Nice (3.70) Troyes (4.60)
18.05: (1.60) Rennes (4.00) Nantes (6.25)
21.45: (2.60) Lille (3.40) Lens (2.95)
***odds are subject to change
