Ben Mee has been widely praised for his post-match interview about the plane banner which marred Monday’s Premier League clash between Manchester City and Burnley at the Etihad Stadium.Moments after the players took a knee at kick-off, in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, a plane carrying the banner ‘White Lives Matter Burnley!’ was spotted overhead.Burnley released a statement condemning the actions of those responsible and have promised to issue lifetime bans.Mee, Burnley’s captain who has been with the Clarets since 2012, said he felt “ashamed and embarrassed” in a live interview broadcast on Sky Sports.The 30-year-old insisted those behind the stunt “need to come into the 21st century and educate themselves”.

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"It was a tough night. We can talk about football but there is something I would like to speak about first - the plane at the beginning of the game,” the defender began.

“I’m ashamed and embarrassed that a small number of our fans have decided to put that around the stadium. Completely misses the point. The group of lads in the changing room are embarrassed to see that. It is not what we are about. They have missed what we are trying to achieve. These people need to come into the 21st century and educate themselves.

“They don't represent what we are about, the club is about, the players are about and the majority of fans are about.”

Mee added: "As we were coming out we heard some whispers that it was going to happen. The club tried to stop it. I've heard it is a small number that have arranged this and I hope it doesn't happen again. I don't want to associate it with my club. I don't want to see this in the game.

"It is not right. We totally condemn it. These people can learn and be taught what the Black Lives Matter movement is trying to achieve.

"The players have pulled together and this is what we want, what the majority of fans want - equality in society and in football, everything, be it race, religion, gender, LGBTQ community.

"The players have pulled together and we want to make a stand against this for all minorities."

Watch the interview in full here…

The perfect response from Mee, whose powerful words have been universally praised on social media…

Burnley managed Sean Dyche, meanwhile, said in his post-match press conference that the banner was “unacceptable” and added: “We can only apologise”.