Real Madrid President says Ceuta visit not related to ‘recent news’
Real Madrid stars including Kylian Mbappe rolled up T-shirts showing support for Ceuta, but President trip 'unrelated'.
Real Madrid President Florentino Perez attended an event at Ceuta city hall on Friday in a visit to show solidarity with the Spanish territory, saying that it was not related to any recent developments.
On Tuesday, before Real’s La Liga match with Elche, Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr and Ibrahima Konate obscured the message “We are all mackerels”, which appeared on T-shirts worn by the rest of the players. “Mackerels” is a nickname for people from Ceuta, and the shirts were designed to show support for them.
Mbappe said on Wednesday that he did not want to prioritise the suffering of one group over another. Real told the news agency Reuters that they respected their players’ freedom to make their own decisions, but noted that they had shown support for Ceuta a week earlier with a tifo during their Champions League match with Inter Milan.
Perez was accompanied by honorary Real Madrid President Jose Martinez Pirri, a native of Ceuta. They were welcomed by Regional President Juan Jesus Vivas.