Real Madrid defender Marcelo has called for ‘changes in the world’ after taking a knee and raising his fist after netting against Eibar on Sunday.
The Brazilian appeared to dedicate his strike to the Black Lives Matter movement after dropping to his knees, lowering his head and raising his right fist – a gesture previously associated with the Black Power Movement.
It was Madrid’s third goal of the came in the comfortable victory, as the left-back capitalised on a poor clearance from Eibar goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic before firing home a powerful drive from the edge of the penalty area.
“Happy to be back with @realmadrid! Happy to have scored a goal!” Marcelo wrote on his Instagram account.
“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 ✊🏿
“We can never go nowhere unless we share with each other
“We gotta start makin’ changes
“Learn to see me as a brother instead of two distant strangers And that’s how it’s supposed to be…” I’d love to go back to when we played as kids But things change, and that’s the way it is…””
Marcelo also added contributions from other Instagram users to his ‘stories’, which included hashtags such as #blacklivesmatter and a clenched black fist to show solidarity with the anti-racism protests.
It comes in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, a black man, in the United States on 25 May, after white police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for over eight minutes in Minneapolis.
In the Bundesliga in Germany, Marcus Thuram, Jadon Sancho, Real Madrid owned Achraf Hakimi and Weston McKennie have been among the players to dedicate goals to the protests in acts of solidarity.
