The Brazilian Real Madrid star sparked a frenzy of reaction after posting his Playa de la Malvarrosa pics on social media that appear to show a flouting of Covid restrictions…
Real Madrid defender and Brazilian international Marcelo, widely held to be the best left-back of all time, was spotted on Playa de la Malvarrosa over the weekend. It’s not as though the paparazzi had a tough job – he posted pics on his own social media showing that he spent the weekend in Valencia with his family, visiting the beach and taking photos. In the photo, he and his family are smiling at the camera without wearing masks, further enraging some.
The photo, which was posted on the star’s own Instagram page, sparked a media frenzy. The issue is that Marcelo did not travel to Valencia from Brazil (which would be permitted), but rather from Madrid, where he took a weekend off from his Real Madrid duties.
Because Valencia has been closed to visitors from other provinces for a long time, Marcelo and his family were in violation of decree law 11/2020, which deals with movement restrictions. The Valencian government will start the process that will result in Marcelo being fined, most likely €600 for coming to Valencia and an additional €100 for not wearing the mask. If you add up all of the possible fines for all of the family members, Marcelo could end up paying around €2,800. That’s unlikely to be a problem for the football star who reportedly earns around €7m per year from his Real Madrid contract.
While this news was being broadcast throughout Spain, Valencian politicians began insulting the city from which Marcelo came – Madrid – for obvious and cheap political reasons. President of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig took a swipe at the popular president of Madrid Isabel Diaz Ayuso, saying: “There may be a kind of jungle law in other communities, but here the rules are met.” Mayor of Valencia Joan Ribo went even further, saying that “This is a typical result of the bad examples set by Madrid’s president, Isabel Diaz Ayuso.”
The idea that Marcelo sits in Isabel Ayuso’s cabinet receiving a nod and a wink telling him to have a ball by breaching Valencia’s perimeter controls is laughable, as is the idea that Madrid is some sort of remote jungle community. Before long, they’ll be depicting Madrid as a real-life Mordor, with Ayuso as Sauron, populated by five million orcs hell-bent on reaching the coast, and without Frodo and his merry band to thwart them in their tracks.
And nobody seems to be asking how Marcelo reached Playa de la Malvarrosa in the first place. Since teleportation has not yet been invented, and given that he is not a character who can easily slip away unnoticed, how did he manage to slip into the Comunidad unchecked? If a small town like Cullera, as recently reported in the press, can close all 50 entrances to the city to prevent people from other provinces from visiting during the Easter holidays, La Comunidad Valenciana ought be able to control its gates, too. Policing by Instagram is not really a viable alternative…
© Madrid’s Marcelo, Fresh From The Jungle, On The Playa De La Malvarrosa – TheValencian
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