After Real Madrid posted a message on social media mourning the victims of floods in Nepal and Gyirong County in southwestern China, Chinese state media criticized Real Madrid for a statement that equated the Tibet region with Nepal, calling it "inappropriate."

Real Madrid posted a message on its official social media account on Tuesday, commemorating the moment of silence held at the Bernabéu Stadium before last weekend's match against Málaga, stating it was "in memory of the victims of the terrible floods in Nepal and Tibet."

After the message was published, Chinese media widely criticized it, arguing that Real Madrid equated the Tibet region with the independent country of Nepal. The incident briefly trended on China's blocked social media platform, Weibo.

The English edition of the Global Times published an article stating that this expression "essentially fosters covert separatist rhetoric" and criticized Real Madrid's message as inappropriate.

The media outlet argued that by mentioning Tibet and Nepal in the same message, Real Madrid was equating the two, and demanded the use of official Chinese designations, such as the Chinese pinyin "Xizang" or "Tibet, China."

A hashtag initiated on Weibo by the official media outlet Beijing Daily, titled "Real Madrid lists Tibet and Nepal together and refuses to correct," involved more than 20 media outlets and rose to the 11th most trending topic on the platform within hours.

The flood on August 26 originated from a glacial collapse in Nepal, sending large amounts of ice, rocks, and mud into Gyirong and destroying a border crossing between Nepal and Tibet. According to the latest statistics from Nepal and China, the disaster killed more than 1,000 people and left more than 4,000 missing.

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