Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling has been dropped by England, ahead of the UEFA EURO 2020 qualifiers against Montenegro and Kosovo, after another coming together with Liverpool man Joe Gomez.
The pair had words at the tail end of the Reds’ 3-1 win over the Citizens on Sunday, and it seems Sterling has allowed it to get the better of him on international duty.
As per the BBC, the Football Association say the winger has been dropped “as a result of a disturbance in a private team area“.
Players were said to be surprised by a second outburst from Sterling who asked Gomez if he still thought he was the “big man“, according to the Telegraph, but were impressed by the Liverpool man who didn’t retaliate physically.
The Man City man later realised the mistake he had made, and offered an apology to Gomez, which was accepted, but the damage was already done. Sterling has now been dropped from the England squad for the Kosovo game.
Raheem Sterling dropped by England for game with Montenegro after angrily confronting Liverpool's Joe Gomez at St George's Park today.
— paul joyce (@_pauljoyce) November 11, 2019
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Honestly, fair play to the FA – the winger is obviously one of the country’s most talented players, and they’ve shown no hesitation in dropping him for disrupting the harmony of the team.
Sterling has let himself down; he’s let a negative situation get the better of him, and you’d hope he’ll show more professionalism in future.
Maybe he can take a leaf out of his 22 year old colleague’s book.