White people should apologise for racism, says Guardiola

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says white people should apologise for the treatment of black people on a night when Premier League players wore the slogan "Black Lives Matter" on their shirts.

SHOWS: MANCHESTER, ENGLAND, UK (JUNE 17, 2020) (CITY TV - ACCESS ALL) 1.

MANCHESTER CITY MANAGER, PEP GUARDIOLA, ENTERING VIDEO CONFERENCE NEWS CONFERENCE 2.

WHITE FLASH 3.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) MANCHESTER CITY MANAGER, PEP GUARDIOLA, ON BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT AND PREMIER LEAGUE'S RESPONSE, SAYING: "Well, what we should say is white people should apologise and say sorry for the way we treated black people for the last 400 years or for centuries.

I feel ashamed for what we have done for these marvellous black people around the world.

It's not a problem with the U.S.A.

And the United States of America what happened to Mr. Floyd (George Floyd), I think there's a racism problem everywhere.

And maybe for our generation it's too late, but hopefully new, younger generations can understand that the only race that there is is ourselves, we're human beings.

Not because of the colour of the skin.

Every gesture is important, but it is a fight that is day by day and day by day over months and years.

It's a problem since a long time ago and you have to support them day by day.

But what the players have done is marvellous and hopefully we can do it with good gestures from the governments and every day in the schools and with every person every day." 4.

WHITE FLASH 5.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) MANCHESTER CITY MANAGER, PEP GUARDIOLA, ON IF HE FEELS SAFE RETURNING TO PLAY AMID COVID-19 CRISIS, SAYING: "No, we feel safe.

I think the Premier League has done an incredible job and all the people and workers here at Manchester City, you cannot imagine - a few people work a lot for a lot of people.

And yeah, we feel safe.

It's just weird.

We really miss the people.

Playing football without people is strange.

Of course, we have to do it right now because the government says, the NHS and the people, the scientists say we can do it, but at the same time you have to be careful.

I have a feeling the virus is still here.

You cannot relax and just be careful.

But we are protected.

We are tested twice a week.

We have (sanitising) gel, social distancing, masks and all we can do to be protected." 6.

WHITE FLASH 7.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) MANCHESTER CITY MANAGER, PEP GUARDIOLA, ON ERIC GARCIA INJURY AND TEAM'S PERFORMANCE, SAYING: "Yeah, we are very concerned about Eric (Garcia) of course, so the last info - he's conscious but I think he's going to be tested tonight because these kicks in the head are always so dangerous.

The game, 11 against 11, the first minutes were typical after two months off without a lot of energy from both teams. Until we were settled in the game and we had chances.

We were lucky to score the first goal and at the end of the first half and after the second one on the penalty and the send off was much easier.

But in general, we - after two months you don't know exactly how the team is going to be or how they're going to feel.

We had a good performance against a good team." 8.

WHITE FLASH 9.

ARSENAL MANAGER, MIKEL ARTETA, ENTERING VIDEO CONFERENCE NEWS CONFERENCE 10.

WHITE FLASH 11.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) ARSENAL MANAGER, MIKEL ARTETA, ON PREMIER LEAGUE'S RESPONSE TO BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT, SAYING: "Yeah all the surroundings of the game are completely different than what we're used to, but we have to adapt.

We are playing football again which is what we love to do and hopefully helping people with that.

Today's game had a lot of conditions, one of them where we did that before the game, but I think it sends a strong message.

I think it's creating a very unique message around the world with what we are trying to achieve.

I think some behaviours are going to change, hopefully, with all the things that are happening and if we can contribute to that a little bit, great." 12.

WHITE FLASH 13.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) ARSENAL MANAGER, MIKEL ARTETA, ON DAVID LUIZ, SAYING: "I don't know what will happen with his contract.

I know what happened today.

I know the way David reacted.

I know him well.

Not as a player, but as a person as well.

He can handle these situations.

There was a reason why I didn't select him from the start.

And he had to play because Pablo (Mari) got injured.

He's always going to try to give you his best no matter the condition he's in and he tried again.

It didn't work out for him or for the team.

But, that's it." 14.

WHITE FLASH 15.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) ARSENAL MANAGER, MIKEL ARTETA, PABLO MARI AND GRANIT XHAKA INJURIES, SAYING: "Yeah, they are getting assessed at the moment and we'll probably know something more tomorrow morning.

But, Pablo's (injury) didn't look really good to be fair." 16.

WHITE FLASH 17.

ARTETA LEAVING STORY: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said white people should apologise for the treatment of black people on a night when Premier League players wore the slogan "Black Lives Matter" on their shirts.

City and Arsenal players also took a knee with the referee before the kick-off of Wednesday's (June 17) game, following an identical gesture at the start of the match between Aston Villa and Sheffield United which marked the league's return after a three-month absence due to the coronavirus pandemic.

All the players' names on the back of their shirts were replaced with the words "Black Lives Matter" as the league formally joined the international protest campaign sparked by the death last month of George Floyd, a black man, at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta also said he hoped the league's gestures would help lead to change.

The coaches made their comments following their match in which Manchester City beat Arsenal 3-0 at the Etihad stadium, the second fixture since the Premier League returned following a 100-day break due to the COVID-19 crisis.