Real Madrid players’ Ceuta shirt incident sparks dressing-room backlash

The circumstances surrounding a promotional shirt supporting Ceuta have caused controversy, after Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Ibrahima Konate appeared reluctant to wear it before Real Madrid’s match against Elche on Tuesday evening.

The shirts had been handed to players before they went on to the pitch and carried the slogan “We are all Caballas”. The message was intended to show support for the autonomous city of Ceuta, which experienced a significant influx of Moroccan residents at the end of July.

When Mbappe, Vinicius and Konate received the shirts, they appeared confused as they tried to read the wording. They initially put them on only partially, obscuring the slogan, before quickly taking them off. They were the first players to remove them.

The incident was discussed on El Larguero, broadcast by Cadena SER. Presenter Manu Carreno said it was important to respect people who take a position, those who choose not to take one and those who do not wish to adopt a particular slogan.

The three players were strongly criticised by supporters. During the programme, Jesus Gallego questioned how La Liga would have reacted if they had wanted to wear shirts supporting people who cross borders in search of a living.

“What would La Liga have said? Would it have allowed you to do that given the current situation in Spain? Would La Liga have allowed you to wear that shirt? I am certain it would not,” he said.

Carreno added that he was convinced La Liga would not allow a commercial organisation in another city to do the same if it presented a similar proposal to both teams.

Dani Garrido said the initiative was “just a proposal, whether praiseworthy or not, from a group of businessmen in Valencia”, and stressed that it was not an official event.

Javier Herraiz suggested there were still unanswered questions about the episode. “Elche do not want to reveal what happened. If you ask Elche for their version of events, they will not give it to you. Not to me, because I am nobody important, but not even to Morajo, the journalist who has followed Elche for the longest time, will they give him their account,” he said on El Larguero.

“The question is very simple: when did Elche inform Real Madrid? When did they hand the shirts to Real Madrid’s players?”

The players appear to have been told about the shirts after the warm-up. Television footage showed Vinicius and Mbappe among the last to put them on, and doing so reluctantly.

According to sources close to several players who spoke to the Spanish radio station, the squad had not known about the shirts until they entered the pitch. “They received them and were told to wear them. It was a very uncomfortable situation,” the sources said.

They added that Thibaut Courtois had chosen, through the club’s public relations official, not to answer questions about the matter. The incident, they said, had caused widespread irritation in the dressing room.

The Spanish Footballers’ Association (AFE) said players should receive more information to prevent similar situations, such as those involving Real Betis player Abdessamad Ezzalzouli for wearing the shirt and Mbappe for not doing so.

Real Madrid is expected to make a gesture towards Ceuta in the coming days. The club’s position was to take the shirt and wear it, unlike Barcelona against Levante four days earlier, when no similar controversy followed.