Soccer

Amorim backs Manchester United players over dropping rainbow jackets

‘We need to respect religion of Nous and his culture’ says manager

Noussair Mazraoui refused to wear the rainbow jacket on grounds of his Muslim faith. Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire
Noussair Mazraoui refused to wear the rainbow jacket on grounds of his Muslim faith. Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire
Will Unwin
Fri Dec 06 2024 - 22:30

Ruben Amorim has said the Manchester United team’s decision to show solidarity with Noussair Mazraoui by collectively electing not to wear rainbow-themed jackets to support the LGBTQ+ community should be respected.

The players were supposed to walk on to the pitch in the garments before their match with Everton last Sunday but Mazraoui refused on grounds of his Muslim faith and his team-mates followed suit, resulting in criticism from the Rainbow Devils, the club’s LGBTQ+ supporters’ group, which said the decision was a “great disappointment”.

“It was a group decision as players, as it should be,” Amorim said. “There are three difficult things to manage. On one side it’s club values and I think all can agree that it’s not an issue, but then you have religion, which you have to respect. It’s our values to respect other opinions. And then the third thing is the group thing. I won’t leave Nous alone – we’re a team.

“The majority of the players believe in one thing but they saw one guy alone and said: ‘Let’s be together.’ It’s three things we have to manage and respect. It’s a hard issue to address. I think we did it in a good way. This club represents ... we need to respect everything but we also respect the religion of Nous and his culture.”

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Amorim suffered his first defeat on Wednesday at Arsenal but will aim to make it three Old Trafford wins from three against Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening. Forest are three points and six places above United, who start the weekend in 13th – an indication of the job Amorim has to do.

[ Arne Slot warns Liverpool must learn from last season’s defeat at Everton ]

“We’re a massive club but we’re not a massive team and we know it, so it is no problem to say it,” Amorim said. “We want to improve – we are in a different moment from Arsenal. But you could feel it during the game. I think we have to believe more. We weren’t dominant in the game but we had control. Not so many chances for Arsenal, of course a lot of set pieces, but we were okay, especially in the first half.

“You could feel that there’s so much to do. We need to be better in the final third – they had more danger. I felt Arsenal had problems to block our build-up, but then when they defended the goal it was quite comfortable for them, so we are learning and trying to improve.” – Guardian