Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said he is "ashamed" of white people's historic treatment of black people as he spoke out about the Black Lives Matter movement.
On Wednesday, Aston Villa hosted Sheffield United before Arsenal travelled to Man City in the first two top-flight fixtures in England in three months.
And immediately following the opening whistles of both matches, every player knelt in honour of George Floyd, an unarmed black American who died at the hands of a white policeman in Minnesota last month.
“We should send one thousand million messages for black people,” Guardiola said after the match. “For centuries, for hundreds of years to do what we do [to] these lovely people.
“I’m embarrassed, I’m ashamed for what the white people have done [to] the black people. Just because you are born with another colour of skin, how can people think you are completely different than others.”
Players involved in both games also sported shirts with ‘Black Lives Matter’ written in place of their names.
“All these gestures are good, they are positive, but you have to do it with facts,” Guardiola added. “It can’t be solved in a few days, but everything we can do, we can do. We have to do a lot of things for the black people that we have not done so far.”
Guardiola’s City defeated Arsenal 3-0 at the Etihad, with Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden finding the net either side of a Kevin De Bruyne penalty.
The penalty came after David Luiz received a red card for bringing down Riyad Mahrez in the Arsenal box.
Luiz was also at fault for Sterling’s opener, which marked the England winger’s first goal in 2020.
In the earlier kick-off, hosts Aston Villa held Sheffield United to a 0-0 draw, but there was controversy when the visitors were denied a goal despite the ball crossing the goal-line.
Villa goalkeeper Orjan Nyland stumbled backwards into his net after catching an Oliver Norwood free-kick, but referee Michael Oliver’s watch did not buzz to indicate the ball had crossed the line, and as such, no goal was given.
Hawk-Eye later apologised for their goal-line technology failing.
