Real Madrid have defended their players’ freedom to express differing opinions after Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr. covered a solidarity message for the people of Ceuta before Tuesday’s LaLiga clash with Elche.
Both teams came out of the tunnel wearing shirts bearing the message “Todos somos caballas” (“We are all mackerels”), with caballas a nickname for people from the Spanish territory of Ceuta.
However, Mbappe and Vinicius rolled their shirts up to chest height, making the message difficult to read, before removing them completely as they left the tunnel. Their teammate Ibrahima Konate held his shirt in his hands.
A Real Madrid official told Reuters that the club had accepted Elche’s request to show solidarity with Ceuta and wear the shirts.
The official said Real Madrid, as an organisation, respected differing opinions and gave each player the freedom to decide whether to wear the shirt.
The gesture followed more than 70,000 irregular crossings into Ceuta from Morocco in July, which prompted solidarity movements across Spain.
Real Madrid had also shown support for Ceuta during their Champions League match against Inter Milan last Tuesday, when fans in the club’s singing section displayed a tifo featuring placards of the Ceuta flag.
The initiative for the players to wear the shirts was promoted by the Valencian Business Association.
Barcelona, however, chose not to wear the shirts during their LaLiga match against Levante on Sunday.
The issue also drew attention after Morocco international Ez Abde received abusive comments on social media for wearing the shirt before Real Betis met with Villarreal on Monday.
Abde later said he would not apologise for the gesture, describing it as support for a community and a social cause rather than political content.
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