Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has claimed that the treatment of immigrants is a ‘big problem’ in response toSir Jim Ratcliffe’s comments.

The Manchester United co-owner triggered outrage earlier this week after he claimed that the UK had been‘colonised by immigrants’. The 73-year-old has subsequently attempted to apologise after criticism from Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.

Now, City boss Guardiola has given his take. Speaking in a press conference ahead of his side’s FA Cup clash with Salford City, the Spanish coach said: “I have a huge appreciation for Sir Jim. I was fortunate to meet him. He made a statement after to apologise.

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“I’m not commenting on what Sir Jim Ratcliffe said because after that he said what exactly he wanted to say, but all around the world the problem that we have in all the countries [is that] we treat immigrants or people who come from other countries as the problem for problems that our countries have and it is a big, big, big, big, big problem.”

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He added: “The fact that I am a Catalan and you are British – what influence did we have on where we were born? It was mum and dad.

“Everybody wants to have a better life and a perspective to have a better future for themselves, their families and their friends, and sometimes opportunities come in the place where you are born and the place that maybe you go.

“Before it was so difficult to travel, but today in one hour you can be everywhere. Today the colour of the skin or where you were born doesn’t make a difference. We have a lot of work to do about that.

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“It doesn’t make me feel that because I am Catalan I am better than you. My education when I was born and travelled in Mexico and Qatar or lived in Italy or England or Germany, that is just the benefit of my personality.

“I met incredibly nice people travelling and that is what it is about, but it doesn’t make me feel better just for the fact I was born in one place or the other one. Most people are running away from countries because of problems in their countries, not because they want to leave. As much as we embrace other cultures – truly, truly embrace it – that will be a better society.”

Ratcliffe could potentially face consequences for his comments. The FA are yet to launch a formal investigation but they are taking a close look with it being suggested that he could potentially have called the game into disrepute.

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