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Real Madrid left-back Marcelo has called for change a day after taking a knee and raising a fist to celebrate his goal in the Spanish giants’ 3-1 La Liga victory over Eibar on Sunday.
“Happy to be back with @realmadrid! Happy to have scored a goal!. But even happier to see all the CHANGES in the World! Now It’s time. We must use the power we have and start making real CHANGES. #M12 #Tupac,” he wrote on his Instagram account on Monday before quoting a lyric from the Tupac song “Changes.”
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The Brazil international scored the Spanish giants’ third goal of the day — pouncing on a poor clearance and beating Eibar goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic with a driven shot from the edge of the penalty box. He then immediately dropped to his knees, lowered his head and raised his right fist — a gesture often seen as a symbol of the “Black Power” movement that gained prominence in the United States in the 1960s and ’70s and associated with the “Black Lives Matter” movement of today.
Marcelo’s Instagram account on Sunday reposted images of his celebration from other users, some of which contained the hashtag #blacklivesmatter and other anti-racism messages. But he did not directly address the gesture until Monday.
The message comes as players, clubs and leagues throughout the sport have expressed solidarity in the wake of the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a black man, who died after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes in Minnesota. Floyd’s death has spurred demonstrations against racial injustice around the world.
Several clubs paid tributes earlier this month to Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement on their warm-up shirts prior to league matches. Marcus Thuram, Jadon Sancho, Achraf Hakimi and United States international Weston McKennie have been among the players who have showed their support. And last week, the Premier League announced it will allow players to replace the names on the back of their jerseys with the words “Black Lives Matter” for one round and that teams will wear a patch to show support for the movement for the rest of the season.
FIFA, whose rules prohibit “any political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images” on equipment, made a rare public statement last week in which it urged competition organizers to apply “common sense” and consider not sanctioning players for solidarity during matches. And the governing body appealed Monday for “tolerance, mutual respect and common sense” after United States President Donald Trump denounced the annulment of a policy that required U.S. national team players to stand during the national anthem.