Raheem Sterling Comments After Being Dropped by England for Joe Gomez Clash
Raheem Sterling has said he and Liverpool's Joe Gomez have "figured things out and moved on" after the altercation that led to the Manchester City star being dropped for England's clash with Montenegro on Thursday.
Sterling and Gomez had a brief confrontation during City's 3-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, which saw the Sky Blues lose significant ground in the title race:
On Monday, the FA then issued a statement saying Sterling would not be in line to play against Montenegro "as a result of a disturbance in a private team area at St. George’s Park."
England manager Gareth Southgate explained "the emotions of yesterday's game were still raw," and Sterling tried to reopen hostilities when the pair met up for international duty, per Matt Law of the Telegraph.
A former Liverpool player, Sterling has now taken to Instagram to explain that he and centre-back Gomez have put the incident behind them:
"First and foremost everyone knows what that game means to me. Everyone knows that I am not that way inclined and more to the point, both Joe and I have had words and figured things out and moved on.
"We are in a sport where emotions run high and I am man enough to admit when emotions got the better of me. This is why we play this sport because of our love for it—me and @joegomez5 are good we both understand it was a 5-10 second thing it's done we move forward and not make this bigger than it is.
"Let's get focus on our game on Thursday."
It was hardly an ideal way for England and Southgate to begin the international break, in which they play UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers against Montenegro at Wembley before travelling to Kosovo for their final Group A clash on Sunday.
Sterling, 24, will be a big loss given his form in an England shirt recently has been phenomenal:
The Three Lions are top of their pool, though, and they need just a point to secure a place at next summer's tournament.
In Sterling's absence, Southgate has numerous other options to call upon in attack, including Manchester United's Marcus Rashford, Chelsea's Callum Hudson-Odoi and Borussia Dortmund's Jadon Sancho.
The door has been left open for Sterling to return for the trip to the Fadil Vokrri Stadium, by which time England may have booked their spot at Euro 2020.
