Kylian Mbappé has broken his silence following the controversy generated by the fact that he, Vinicius and Konaté did not wear the message of support for Ceuta during the moments before the Elche – Real Madrid match. “It was a decision by the clubs to wear the shirt. The players had to wear it. The first thing I want to say is that I have all the solidarity with Ceuta and with all the victims. Because before being a player, I am human. But I also wanted to have a gesture and a thought for all the immigrants who have lost their lives and who are also in tough conditions,” the Frenchman said in statements to AS.
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Insults from Morocco to Abde caused Mbappé, Vinicius and Konaté to say “no” to wearing the support shirt for Ceuta
- Editorial: ABRAHAM P. ROMERO Madrid
The Frenchman insisted that “it was a difficult position because in the end people might think that I am against the people of Ceuta but no, absolutely not.” “I have nothing against them and I support them 100% with my thoughts, but I did not want to prioritize suffering. But I also wanted to have a thought for all the people who suffer, because in the end I am human,” he said.
Mbappé said he is “a guy who wants the best for the world we have” and repeated that “I intend to give a message of positivity and peace, and I hope this is resolved quickly.”
The backstory
The decision not to wear the support shirt for Ceuta continues to generate controversy at the social and political level in Spain. The three footballers refused to show the tribute slogan: “We are all caballas. Ceuta and the Knights of the Sea.” A garment prepared by the Valencia Association of Entrepreneurs (AVE), led by former Madrid president Vicente Boluda, for the home matches of the four clubs of the Valencian Community: Levante, Villarreal, Elche, and Valencia. But why did the players reject it when Real Madrid, their club, had accepted the proposal? Well, we have to rewind 24 hours.
Ez Abde had to delete most of his social media posts and received thousands of insults from Moroccan citizens for wearing the support shirt for Ceuta. But far from regretting it, Abde defended his stance arguing that it was “of a social nature in support of a population and its inhabitants.” “At no time has the shirt referring to the people of Ceuta been used with a political objective or to show contempt towards my people, the Moroccan people,” he added in a statement on his social media, insisting that “this is not an apology to anyone.”
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That post by Abde and all the controversy generated by the shirt reached the Madrid locker room. Brahim Díaz is Abde’s teammate on the Morocco national team and Achraf Hakimi, captain of the Maghreb team, is one of Mbappé’s best friends. And all of them, like any young people today, are aware of what happens on social media and especially everything related to football. They were aware of the reactions generated in Morocco by the image of Abde.
That is why when after the warm-up at Martínez Valero Elche informed Madrid of the initiative, Madrid accepted and the white team’s staff handed the shirts to the players, several had doubts about what to do. And three of them, Mbappé, Vinicius, and Konaté, decided to fold the shirts at the message level so it would not be seen, thus avoiding criticism from Morocco. Only “we are all” could be read, without the reference to “caballas,” the nickname for the inhabitants of Ceuta. According to what this newspaper has learned, the players considered that the shirt had a political charge and refused to take a position on the situation.
Once the controversy was generated after the image of the players, Madrid hinted that inside the locker room there are different “beliefs, sensitivities, opinions and views of reality,” respecting the decision of their players not to join the tribute. The club did not want to impose its view on the matter, and internally recalled that in last weekend’s Levante-Barcelona match, the Barça squad did not join the action of the Granota team, which went out to Ciutat de Valencia with the support shirts for Ceuta.
In the case of Madrid, this is the second official act of support for Ceuta after the mosaic of flags shown by much of the Santiago Bernabéu during the Champions match against Inter Milan. An initiative that was concentrated in the Fans Stand and ended with almost the entire stadium chanting “Ceuta is not for sale, Ceuta is defended”.
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