Over the years and decades, a huge number of South Americans (Brazilians in particular) have played for Real Madrid. But in recent years, the Royal club has relied on ‘African’ power when it comes to renewing the squad. While only Eduardo Camavinga was born in Africa (in a refugee camp in Angola before joining Fougeres (near Rennes) at two years old), other players all have African roots, which was still not enough for a number of fans, who criticized Marca’s front page, in which ‘African’ players dominate over the map of the continent.#LaPortada 🗞 ‘Africa power’ pic.twitter.com/jgLkqwJbfj— MARCA (@marca) June 26, 2022 Ferland Mendy, David Alaba, Karim Benzema, Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni and Antonio Rudiger are on the front page as they represent the African continent in Madrid, even thou they are basically four Frenchmen, one German and one Austrian. Real’s left back has a familiar surname Mendy, as his cousin is Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, who opted to play for Senegal, while Ferland decided to represent France.Born in a refugee camp, fell in love with lifeDavid Alaba holds an Austrian passport and was voted Austrian Footballer of the Year on eight occasions. He was born in Vienna and is part Philippines (through his mother) and part Nigerian through his father. The star of the team Karim Benzema was born in Lyon, like his mother, but both his grandfather and father were born in Algeria, from where his mother originates also. Eduardo Camavinga was born in refugee camp in Angola, but both his parents are Congolese who immigrated to France when he was two years old. I support Cameroon because it is also a part of me. Aurelien Tchouameni’s parents are of Cameroonian origin, and he admitted he does support their national team and also visited his parent’s country many times. Real’s latest addition, German international Antonio Rudiger is already known for his appraisal of Sierra Leone, his parent’s country.Rudiger is very proud of his African rootsApart from the current crop of Africans, Real used to have them in its team in the past too. Samuel Eto’o usually comes to mind first, but there are others, like Geremy, or Claude Makelele, a Frenchman born in Kinsasha. In 2006, Madrid signed Malian midfielder Mahamadou Diarra and later on Lassana Diarra, also with roots in Mali but with a French passport was signed too. “Racist”, “weird”, “out of place”, “scandalous” were some of the comments when Marca posted its front page on social media accounts.MON: 20.00: (5.00) CSKA PAMIR (3.50) SOGDIANA (1.68)
