Real Madrids Marcelo takes a knee to support Black Lives Matter

Reals Marcelo kneels to celebrate his goal v Eibar on Sunday. Pic/AFP

Playing a home game but not at its famed Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Real Madrid resumed its Spanish league campaign with a 3-1 win over Eibar to keep pace with leader Barcelona.

The game on Sunday saw Marcelo take a knee during a goal celebration in apparent support for the Black Lives Matter movement. The Brazilian veteran defender put his left knee down and raised his right fist into the air after scoring the third goal for Madrid.

Marcelo-s gesture made him one of the few players in the Spanish league to make public their support for the movement which has protested police brutality after George Floyd-s death in the United States. Valencia-s players last week had also taken a knee before a training session to show their support.

Toni Kroos and Sergio Ramos also scored as Madrid won the game at the club-s training center while major renovation work takes place at the 80,000-capacity Bernabéu, about 10 kilometers six miles away.

Eden Hazard, who had been expected to miss the rest of the season because of a foot injury sustained before the Coronavirus pandemic, thrived on his return and set up two of the goals in the game. There were no fans at the 6,000-capacity Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium, which is used mostly by Madrid-s -B- team..

"This is completely different to what we experienced before, you have to adapt," said Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane, who completed 200 matches in charge. The victory kept Madrid two points behind Barcelona. "We couldn-t wait for the league to start again, to compete again, and the best way to do that is with a win."

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel @middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever