If Einstein were still alive, he probably wouldn’t have a clue about the offside rule – Bellerin

Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin has backed his fellow footballers to speak out if they have an important opinion to air, rubbishing the public perception that players should stick to football.

Bellerin recently returned to action after a lengthy injury lay-off, giving Unai Emery more options at full-back alongside Kieran Tierney, who also just regained full fitness after a summer transfer from Scottish champions Celtic.

With football now playing a bigger role in helping raise awareness for societal issues and various charitable endeavours, Bellerin feels that players are not given enough credit due to their backgrounds and called for respect as even someone as clever as famous scientist Albert Einstein might have struggled with some of the game’s finer points.

“Most footballers come from difficult backgrounds,” the right-back told the Guardian. “If your mum or dad is a banker or a doctor, then you’re hardly likely to become a footballer; your parents will most likely put you through university and you’ll have a career. 

“My mum and dad raised me really well and I didn’t hang around the streets all day, but I’m still from a lower-class family. We are just as good at what we do. If Einstein were still alive, he probably wouldn’t have a clue about the offside rule. We have a different kind of intelligence.”

Smart reading of gameplay, good decision making and clinical technique certainly fall into that category, but Bellerin is hopeful that his fellow professionals will continue to use their fame as a platform to discuss and shed light on important issues off the pitch.

“Footballers are still told to stick to football and not to talk about anything else,” he added. “For a lot of footballers, it’s easy to post boring stuff online after a game. I feel that we will never go forward if we keep doing that. 

“We can use social media to show that we aren’t machines that play every Saturday. We have our passions and our problems just like everyone else. Look at what happened when Raheem Sterling wrote about racism on Instagram. 

“It seemed to come out of nowhere, and it started a really important conversation.”