MADRID, Sept ⁠16 (Reuters) - Real Madrid defended their players' right to have differing opinions ⁠after forwards Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr. obscured a solidarity ‌message for the people of Ceuta before Tuesday's LaLiga clash with Elche.

Both teams emerged wearing t-shirts reading "Todos somos caballas" ("We are all mackerels") - caballas being a nickname for people from ​the Spanish territory of Ceuta.

However, Mbappe and ⁠Vinicius rolled their shirts up ⁠to chest height, rendering the message illegible, before removing them entirely as ⁠they ‌exited the tunnel. Teammate Ibrahima Konate simply held his shirt in his hands.

The show of support comes after more than 70,000 ⁠irregular crossings into Ceuta from Morocco occurred in ​July, sparking solidarity movements ‌across Spain.

A Real Madrid official told Reuters that the club ⁠accepted Elche's request ​to show such support in solidarity and wear the shirts, but as an organisation respect differing opinions and gave each player the freedom to choose whether ⁠or not to wear the shirt.

Real organised ​a tifo in their singing section last Tuesday in support of Ceuta for their Champions League match against Inter Milan, with fans holding up placards ⁠of theCeuta flag.The initiative to wear the t-shirts was promoted by the Valencian Business Association, and Barcelona decided not to wear them during their clash with Levante on Sunday.

On Monday, Moroccan international Ez Abde had ​received abusive comments on social media for sporting ⁠the shirt before Real Betis' clash with Villarreal.

Abde responded with a statement saying ​that he would not apologise for doing ‌so, and that the message was ​in support of a community and a social cause rather than of any political content.

(Reporting by Ruairidh BarlowEditing by Christian Radnedge)