La Liga president criticises Mbappe, Vinicius, Konate for shirt incident

La Liga president Javier Tebas has called out three Real Madrid stars, including Kylian Mbappe, for how they wore a t-shirt supporting the people of Ceuta. Ceuta is a Spanish territory in North Africa facing a migration crisis. The trio, Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, and Ibrahima Konate, wore the tribute shirt partially rolled up before their 3-2 win at Elche on Tuesday. Other players wore it properly.

This action covered part of the message on the shirt, which read “we are all Ceutans.” This message is meant for the people living in Ceuta, Spain’s North African territory. Tebas said, “We saw three players decide not to wear it, putting it half on is the same as not wearing it… bad, bad.”

The idea for the teams to wear the shirts came from a group of business people from the Valencia region. Tebas mentioned that the initiative was approved but not organized by La Liga. He insisted it was “not a political act of any type.” Players from La Liga teams not playing against clubs from the Valencia region have not worn the shirt.

Miguel Angel Montano, president of Real Madrid’s Ceuta fan club, expressed disappointment over the trio’s choice not to wear the shirts properly. He said, “We were very happy to see (players) wearing the shirts, because we need support, but we were baffled when we saw that these three players covered up the message.”

On Monday, Villarreal played against Real Betis, and both teams wore the shirts supporting Ceuta. Also, Levante players wore the shirt before their match against Barcelona on Sunday, but the Catalan team chose not to use it. This issue has arisen during a time of increased tensions in Ceuta due to a large number of migrants arriving. Tens of thousands of migrants came to Ceuta from Morocco on July 30 and 31.

While most of them left shortly after arriving, several thousand stayed in Ceuta. Locals have been protesting regularly as migrants camp on beaches and sleep in the streets. They accuse the Spanish government of neglecting the city amid this humanitarian crisis.

Abde Ezzalzouli, a winger for Real Betis and Morocco, defended himself on social media on Tuesday after facing criticism for wearing the shirt. He stated, “I want to make one thing clear, at no point was the shirt referring to the people of Ceuta used with a political objective or out of contempt for my people, the Moroccan people.” Ezzalzouli described the shirt as a social gesture to support the people of the city “regardless of their nationality.”