Real Madrid slammed for getting 15 minute flight from Valladolid game

Real Madrid have been slammed for getting a 15 minute flight from an away game.

Los Blancos played their first competitive game since the World Cup break on Friday night, beating 10-man Real Valladolid at the Estadio Jose Zorrilla.

Captain Karim Benzema moved on from his controversial France World Cup row by bagging a late brace to move Real level with Barcelona at the top of the table.

But there's been a huge backlash to Real's decision to fly to the fixture. According to commentator and pundit Alvaro Romeo, the 14-time European Cup winners flew home on their £340 million private jet.

He vented over the decision, which he felt was an unnecessary and avoidable emission of CO2.

"Last night Real Madrid took a plane to return from Valladolid. It was a 15 minutes flight. Then we talk about kits made with recycled materials, etc. What the hell?"

The flight was just 15 minutes in total, meaning the players would have only be able to get through about five songs in their AirPods.

As an alternative Carlo Ancelotti's side could have travelled back to their Valdebebas complex on the team bus for just over two hours and plenty of fans fumed over them not thinking about the environment.

One said: "Greta Thunberg shaking with rage."

A second added: "But us non privileged people are being told we’re the ones at fault for the climate change."

A third commented: "Surely the leagues can govern over these ridiculously lazy flights that football clubs take."

A fourth opined: "Keep recycling tho guys! It’s not the big corporations causing the most pollution it’s definitely individual everyday people and climate change is our fault!"

A fifth weighed in: "Rich people will always find ways to do things that benefits them the most but at the very least i think they could afford to make their travel 100% carbon-neutral."

Paris Saint-Germain courted controversy when they made a 239 mile journey to Nantes by plane, when they could have got a two-hour high-speed train.

Image: Alamy

French politicians were furious and called for the club to "wake up" in regards to climate change. Meanwhile, French newspaper L'Equipe that Lionel Messi's private plane made 52 trips totalling 368 hours between June and August in 2022

Overall, the journeys accrued 1,502 tons of CO2, which is the same amount an average French person would emit in 150 years.

Topics: Real Madrid, La Liga

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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