FC Barcelona would ultimately not have only motivated its refusal of t-shirts dedicated to Ceuta by the political dimension of the message. According to Le360the case of Lamine Yamal would also have played a determining role in the club’s final decision. Still undecided on his participation in the operation before the match against Racing Santander, Barça would have learned that their young striker did not wish to wear the t-shirt. The Catalan management would then have chosen not to involve its entire workforce, in particular to prevent Lamine Yamal from finding himself directly targeted by insults or racist excesses on social networks.
A fear which can also be explained by what happened around Real Madrid. During the trip to Elche, Kylian Mbappé, Ibrahima Konaté and Vinicius Jr chose to roll up their t-shirts, thus leaving the slogan “Todos somos Caballas” much less visible than with their partners. Their gesture quickly sparked numerous reactions and criticism. Casa Blanca then recalled that each player had their own freedom of decision. Faced with this precedent, Barça would therefore have preferred to adopt a collective position to avoid further media exposure of one of its players, with Lamine Yamal at the heart of concerns.
