The reason why Barcelona did not wear anti-racism shirt before Atletico Madrid clash

Barcelona were one of two sides that did not wear La Liga’s anti-racism t-shirt pre-game against Atletico Madrid, as La Liga celebrated a week of anti-discrimination projects. The reason was due to sponsorship.

Fresh off the back of more racial abuse towards Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior from Barcelona and Atletico Madrid fans outside of their grounds in midweek,  18 of the 20 La Liga sides appeared in photos together with anti-racism t-shirts on all of the players.

Ig story Lewandowski. @lewy_official pic.twitter.com/SxjB4lmPCW

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) March 17, 2024

One of the pair that didn’t was Barcelona. As per Cadena Cope, the reason was due to sponsorship. The Blaugrana have a deal with Japanese video game manufacturer Konami, and with EA Sports sponsoring La Liga, and appearing on the t-shirt, they did not want to infringe upon their contract.

#FCBarcelona did not wear La Liga's anti-racism campaign shirt last night, although Sergi Roberto's captain's armband did reference the battle against discrimination. (Cadena Cope) pic.twitter.com/A3kGuNrsz7

— Football España (@footballespana_) March 18, 2024

The other side that did not were Real Madrid, but they did wear their own anti-racism t-shirt ahead of their match with Osasuna at El Sadar on Saturday. La Liga were the first to report the racial abuse of Vinicius outside the Metropolitano to the Spanish authorities, who will now take up the case, after fans lamentably chanted that Vinicius was a ‘chimpanzee’.