Tebas criticises Real Madrid players for making their own choice as Barcelona skips the campaign

Javier Tebas has criticised Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Ibrahima Konaté for not fully displaying a shirt carrying a message of support for Ceuta before Real Madrid’s match at Elche. Yet Real Madrid had allowed every player to decide whether to take part. Barcelona went further in the opposite direction: the club did not join the initiative before its game against Levante.

The LaLiga president described the trio’s conduct as wrong. In his view, the shirt formed part of an institutional gesture rather than an opportunity for players to express a personal position. A voluntary show of support was therefore treated as though it should have been a compulsory part of the pre-match uniform.

REAL MADRID GAVE ITS PLAYERS A CHOICE

Before kick-off at the Martínez Valero, players from Elche and Real Madrid were given white shirts bearing the words “Todos somos caballas”, a message of solidarity with the people of Ceuta following the migration crisis at the end of July. Mbappé and Vinícius rolled their shirts up so the slogan could not be read and removed them before the pre-match greetings were complete. Konaté held his shirt rather than displaying it.

A Real Madrid official told Reuters that the club had accepted Elche’s proposal and supported the initiative. The same source also said Madrid respected differing opinions within the squad and left each player free to choose whether to wear the shirt. This was not the club rejecting the campaign or three players refusing a direct order.

Madrid had already shown institutional support for Ceuta. During the Champions League match against Inter, supporters at the Santiago Bernabéu produced a display featuring the city’s flag. The club’s position was hardly hidden.

TEBAS SAW AN INSTITUTIONAL DUTY

Tebas took a different view. He argued that appearing in the shirt was a club action and that the players should therefore have followed the collective decision. He also rejected the suggestion that the initiative amounted to a political protest.

That interpretation conflicts with the freedom explicitly granted by Real Madrid. The club has not indicated that disciplinary action is being considered and has instead defended the right of its players to hold different opinions. None of the three has publicly explained the decision, so claims about their motives remain speculation.

BARCELONA DECLINED AS A CLUB

Barcelona’s position makes the criticism look even more selective. Reuters, El País and Cadena SER all reported that the Catalan club did not take part in the same initiative before facing Levante. This was not the personal choice of three players. The entire team appeared without the campaign shirt.

In the remarks reported by Cadena SER, Tebas did not direct comparable criticism at Barcelona. Instead, he focused on three members of a club that had accepted Elche’s proposal and enabled the rest of its team to support the campaign. The resulting order of priorities is curious: one club’s complete absence sits in the background, while three individual choices at another club become a public lecture.

SUPPORT DOES NOT REQUIRE COMPULSION

The campaign was promoted by the Valencian Business Association and adopted by several clubs. Its social message does not automatically mean that every footballer must express support in exactly the same way, especially after their club has made participation a matter of personal choice.

Real Madrid backed Ceuta as an institution without trying to control the private views of every member of its squad. Tebas is entitled to disagree with the players, but it is difficult to claim that everyone has been judged by the same standard. Barcelona did not hide the message by rolling up the shirt. It did not wear the shirt at all.