Real Madrid: why Mbappé, Vinicius and Konaté refused to wear the T-shirt in Elche

Last night, Real Madrid secured a 3-2 win at Elche in La Liga, thanks to a goal from Carlos Espi in the closing moments of the match. However, in the hours that followed, only one subject was making headlines across all media outlets: Kylian Mbappé, Vinicius Jr and Ibrahima Konaté’s refusal to wear a T-shirt bearing a message for the people of Ceuta. It is a Spanish enclave on African territory that has been facing a surge in migration for more than a month.

The three players came onto the pitch with the T-shirt pulled halfway up, so that the message written on it — todos somos Caballas (we are all Caballas, the residents of Ceuta, editor’s note) — was not fully visible. They soon took the T-shirt off. This sparked a major controversy on the other side of the Pyrenees.

Read also: Real Madrid: Javier Tebas takes aim at Mbappé, Vinicius and Konaté

It should be noted that Real Madrid was not behind this initiative, which was launched by a group of entrepreneurs from the Valencia region. The daily newspaper El Mundo provides further details and discusses the reasons behind the three Madrid players’ “boycott.” They saw what happened to Abde, the Moroccan Betis player who wore a similar T-shirt during one of his team’s matches and was subjected to a huge wave of online abuse.

The players also felt that the T-shirt had political implications and therefore did not want to be involved. The newspaper adds that Kylian Mbappé regularly spends his holidays in Morocco, while Vinicius Jr travelled there as a UNESCO ambassador in 2024. Besides not wanting to take a political position or be associated with any ideology, the players therefore did not want to alienate the Moroccan authorities.

Joshua SOSSOU

Editorfr, en, ar

As a sports fan, and particularly a football fan, I've been putting my writing talent to good use for a number of years now to promote African talent and the continent's football in general. On Foot Africa, enjoy reading each of my lines.

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