Real Madrid star Marcelo marked his goal in Sunday night’s meeting with Eibar by taking a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The Brazilian left-back scored in the 37th minute to put Los Blancos 3-0 up at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano in their first LaLiga game since mid-March.
The gesture, which originates from NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s 2016 US national anthem protests, has become synonymous with the fight against racial injustice.
The death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed in Minneapolis last month after a white police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes, has sparked anti-racism protests around the world in recent weeks.
Several footballers have made shows of solidarity with the movement as the sport gradually returns from its coronavirus shutdown.
Bundesliga stars, including Jadon Sancho, Marcus Thuram and Achraf Hakimi, have all made similar gestures after scoring, while several Premier League teams have taken a knee en masse in training and before pre-restart friendlies.
Many of the game’s key governing bodies, including Fifa and Uefa, have said that players should not face punishment for paying tribute to Floyd or taking a stand against racism during matches, regardless of usual rules concerning political gestures.
