Florentino Pérez travelled to Ceuta on Friday and attended an official event at the city’s town hall. He used the appearance to insist his trip had nothing to do with the row over Real Madrid’s warm-up shirts. The Real Madrid president had been invited weeks earlier, and he said so directly.
## Florentino Pérez Visits Ceuta City Hall
Pérez’s presence in Ceuta comes days after Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Ibrahima Konaté chose to cover the phrase “We are all mackerel” on their pre-match shirts ahead of the Elche fixture. That timing invited an obvious question about why Madrid’s president was suddenly standing alongside Ceuta’s civic leaders.
Pérez didn’t let the question linger. He told those gathered at the city hall that the visit had been arranged long before the shirts became a story. He wanted no confusion on that point.
## Official Statements and Primary Source Clarifications
Speaking at the event, Pérez addressed the timing head-on. “I want to make clear, so that there is no doubt, that today’s event was prepared several weeks ago with the president of Ceuta, and not because of any recent news,” he said.
It’s a firm statement. It draws a clear line between the club’s civic engagement and the separate decisions made by individual players on the pitch. Real Madrid have not sought to frame the visit as a response to anything — Pérez made that the first point of his remarks, not an afterthought.
## Squad Impact and Warm-Up Shirt Context
The backdrop to all this is straightforward enough. “The mackerel” is the nickname given to the people of Ceuta. Before the Elche match, Mbappé, Vinícius and Konaté decided to obscure the phrase referencing it on their warm-up shirts rather than wear it as printed.
Mbappé explained his reasoning on Wednesday. He said he does not want to prioritise the suffering of one group at the expense of another — a line that suggested careful thought rather than any snub aimed at Ceuta itself.
Real Madrid, for their part, confirmed to Reuters that the club respects the freedom of their players to make their own decisions. That’s consistent with how the club has generally handled personal statements from its squad. It leaves the choice with the individuals rather than the institution.
None of this is new territory for Pérez. His handling of sensitive moments has been shaped by his extended presidential mandate and by the club’s strategic direction under his leadership. Mbappé’s own view of the dressing room and the demands placed on him has come through in an interview detailing team dynamics earlier this season.
## Return to Normality and Matchday Timeline
Beyond the clarification, Pérez used the platform to speak directly to the people of Ceuta. “I take this opportunity to express all our support, all our affection, and our solidarity in these very difficult times for all the people of Ceuta. We hope that normality returns as quickly as possible,” he said.
Those words matter given the scale of what Ceuta has faced. More than 70,000 irregular crossing attempts from Morocco into the city were recorded in July 2026. That figure puts the players’ gesture and Pérez’s visit into sharper context, without needing further comment from the club.
Real Madrid’s own reporting on the visit, detailed in Goal’s report from Ceuta, confirms the sequence of events as Pérez laid them out on Friday. There’s no indication for now that the club plans further comment on the shirts themselves. The focus, as Pérez framed it, stays on Ceuta returning to normal.
Attention now turns back to the pitch, with Madrid due to continue their domestic schedule in the coming days. Mbappé, Vinícius and Konaté are all expected to remain involved as normal. Nothing in Pérez’s remarks suggested any change to how the squad is being managed around the issue.
