Florentino Perez, president of Real Madrid, stated that his organization’s recent visit to Ceuta was part of a pre-arranged schedule and not a reaction to recent developments in the Spanish enclave. Perez attended a function at the Ceuta city hall on Friday alongside honorary club president Jose Martinez Pirri, who is originally from Ceuta.
The visit comes shortly after controversy surrounding Real Madrid players’ display of solidarity during a La Liga match against Elche on Tuesday. Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr., and Ibrahima Konate wore T-shirts featuring the message “We are all mackerels,” a nickname for Ceuta residents, while obscuring similar messages worn by their teammates.
Following the incident, Mbappe clarified on Wednesday that he did not intend to prioritize the suffering of one group over another. In response, Real Madrid told Reuters that it respects its players’ freedom of expression, noting that the club had already demonstrated support for Ceuta a week earlier with a tifo display during their Champions League fixture against Inter Milan.
At the city hall event, Perez emphasized the timeline of the visit to dispel any assumptions of opportunism. “I want to emphasize, to avoid any doubts, that today’s event has been prepared over several weeks with the president of Ceuta, not due to any recent news,” Perez said. He added that the club wished to convey affection and solidarity to Ceutans during what he described as very difficult times, expressing hope that normality would return soon.
The visit follows a significant surge in migration in July, when more than 70,000 people made irregular crossings into Ceuta from Morocco, causing major disruption in the territory. The club’s gesture is one of many acts of solidarity that have emerged across Spain in response to the mass crossings.
Pre-planned or not, the gesture matters. Ceuta needs support now more than ever.
Interesting how they mention the Inter tifo but ignore the Elche incident completely.
The ‘mackerel’ shirts were in poor taste. Solidarity shouldn’t feel like a PR stunt.
I just want everyone to feel safe. Why does everything get politicized instantly?
Hope the pre-planned nature is true, but timing sure looks convenient given the 70,000 migrants crisis.