Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was ‘offended’ by the comments of Pep Guardiola calling the nation an ‘authoritarian state’.
Sanchez is leading the centre-left PSOE into national elections this month and criticised comments from the current Manchester City boss in the build-up to the 2017 Catalan independence referendum.
The former Barca boss told a rally that the Spanish state was an oppressive force and campaigned strongly for the North-East region to declare independence.
“Sport is part of our national pride, it should never be political,” Sanchez told an interview with Marca.
“His comments about Spain being an authoritarian state annoyed me of course, I am offended by what he said because it is not true.
“He talks about the Spanish national team but from what I know this is the same country that asked him to coach the national team at some point.”
