Premier League champions-elect Liverpool took a knee around the centre circle at their Anfield home ground to send out a message of support following the brutal death in police custody of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis.
A picture shows 29 of the club’s players together with the caption ‘Unity is strength. #BlackLivesMatter’.
Other footballers showed their support with Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford of fellow Premier League giants Manchester United adding their voices to the worldwide protests against racism.
In Germany, England forward Jaden Sancho also showed his support for the protest by unveiling a T-shirt with the words ‘Just for George Floyd’ after scoring the first girl before completing a hat-trick for Borussia Dortmund in their Bundusliga game against Paderborn.
He was shown a yellow card for his gesture.
He later wrote on his Instagram: ‘Delighted to get my first hat-trick, a bittersweet moment personally as there are more important things going on in the world today that we must address and help make a change.
‘We shouldn’t fear speaking out for what’s right, we have to come together as one & fight for justice.
‘We are stronger together!
‘#JusticeForFloydGeorge.’
In their game against Union Berlin, Borussia Moenchengladbach’s French striker Marcus Thuram celebrated the first of his two goals for the club by also taking a knee in support of George Floyd.
In 2016, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick protested against racial injustice and police brutality by taking a knee with the Black Power symbol of clenching his fist skywards during the United States national anthem.
Since then, the gesture has become symbolic to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Kaepernick’s stance was his way of replicating the Black Power gesture carried out by US Olympics medal-winning athletes Tommy Smith and John Carlos who both held their single clenched, black-gloved fists in protest against Black injustices in their country whilst on the medals podium as the US national anthem was being played during the 1968 Games in Mexico City.
At Liverpool, a point was made as each of the players stood around the centre circle whilst facing a camera that was high up in the stand, was they emphasised their point by wearing different versions of the club kit – some in red, others in their black away colour
They became the first Premier League club to publically offer support to the Black Lives Mattermovement,
