Guardiola praises Sterling and says racism has to be fought every day

Pep Guardiola has hailed Raheem Sterling as an “incredible human being” for confronting the issue of racism in football.

Sterling was subjected to alleged racial abuse during Manchester City’s Premier League defeat at Chelsea on Saturday. The player later issued a statement accusing the media of fuelling racism in the way it reports certain stories about black players.

Speaking for the first time since, City manager Guardiola said: “I was concerned with what happened but he made a statement on Instagram and was quite clear about his thoughts.

“He’s an incredible person, an incredible human being. It’s tough in the 21st century to still be in this position, to have problems with diversity. We have to be better, everyone.”

Guardiola believes racism is a deep problem in society, of which football is reflective, and it must be combatted.

Speaking at a press conference, Guardiola said: “It’s everywhere, racism is everywhere. People focus on football but it’s not just in football. You’d think in football we’d be safe but racism is everywhere.

“What happens today – how we treat immigrants and refugees, when once in our lives our grandfathers were refugees. It’s everywhere. That’s why we have to fight every day.

“We have to fight for human rights to make a better society for the future. Today it’s dangerous, not just in England, all across Europe.”

Meanwhile, Guardiola says City have only 15 fit senior players available for tonight’s Champions league clash with Hoffenheim.

David Silva and Fernandinho are the latest additions to an injury list that already includes Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne, Danilo, Benjamin Mendy and Claudio Bravo. Oleksandar Zinchenko has also been out in recent weeks.

The problems come after City suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season at Chelsea on Saturday, which caused them to lose top spot in the table.

The Hoffenheim clash has less riding on it with City already through to the last 16 but they need at least a point to be sure of finishing the first stage as winners of Group F.

Guardiola said: “We have 15 players available so I cannot do too much. We are going into a really tough game.

“We are in the next stage and that’s important but we want to go through finishing first.”