Dani Carvajal was keen to tell new Real Madrid teammate Kylian Mbappe to stay out of politics, but he couldn’t follow the same rules himself.
Carvajal helped lead Spain to Euro 2024 glory, beating England in the final after an unprecedentedly dominant campaign saw them become the first team to win all seven fixtures.
During the course of the tournament, Carvajal was asked to comment on Mbappe speaking out against the rise of the far-right in Spain, and said that everyone’s vote should be private.
However, he couldn’t quite hide his own views when confronted with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
The Spain squad traveled to Moncloa Palace where they met Sanchez, and a clip of their introductions instantly lit up social media.
Captain Alvaro Morata was first with the trophy, and shook the hand of Sanchez, chatted for a second and received a pat on the back.
That was a stark contrast to Carvajal, who refused to look at the Prime Minister, quickly withdrawing his hand and walking straight on.
The clip has quickly gone viral and become front page news, with Carvajal previously in hot water for failing to condemn Luis Rubiales after his infamous kiss on Jenni Hermoso.
Responding to the scenes, Huffington Post political analyst, Alán Barroso, said: “Carvajal is able to say that ‘As a player I stay away from my political ideology’ when Mbappé calls for an anti-fascist vote and at the same time do this when he greets the president of his country. The national team and Spain are better than you.”
In Spain, Carvajal is regularly presented as sympathetic towards the far-right, mainly thanks to an incident in 2019 when he invited the president of the far-right party Vox to sit in his VIP area at the Bernabeu.
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