STERLING AXED
England ace ditched after new bust-up with Gomez
Sterling attempted to grab gomez by the neck following his arrival in the players’ canteen at St george’s Park yesterday, the day after the pair clashed in liverpool’s 3-1 win over manchester City.
the 24-year-old will stay with the squad and could face Kosovo on Sunday.
an Fa statement read: ‘Raheem Sterling will not be considered for thursday’s euro 2020 qualifier against montenegro as a result of a disturbance in a private team area at St george’s Park today. he will remain with the squad.’
Sterling clashed with gomez towards the end of Sunday’s dramatic top-of-the-table clash at anfield and the bad blood spilled over yesterday. the City forward reacted aggressively after being greeted warmly by gomez in the players’ canteen at St george’s Park in front of the squad, with the liverpool defender stunned by Sterling’s outburst.
Sterling was sitting down in the canteen Raheem SteRling was dramatically axed from england’s european Championship qualifier against montenegro last night after a bust-up with Joe gomez.
when Gomez arrived and leaned over from behind to shake his hand. Sterling then attempted to grab his team-mate by the neck. the rest of the players initially thought Sterling was joking but it soon became clear he had lost control and the pair needed to be separated.
the incident was particularly surprising because Sterling and Gomez had made their peace after the game at anfield with an embrace at full-time.
england sources were speculating last night that Sterling may have reacted badly to being widely lampooned on social media for coming off second-best physically in the initial confrontation with Gomez.
Gareth Southgate seriously considered sending Sterling home before opting to drop him for one game. the 24-year-old is england’s most creative player and has been spoken of as a future captain because of the leadership skills he has developed over the past few seasons.
‘We have taken the decision to not consider raheem for the match against Montenegro on thursday,’ Southgate said in a statement released by the Fa. ‘one of the great challenges and strengths for us is that we’ve been able to separate club rivalries from the national team. unfortunately the emotions of yesterday’s game were still raw.
‘Now that the decision has been made with the agreement of the entire squad, it’s important that we support the players and focus on thursday night.’
Much of the success of Southgate’s reign has been down to his ability to foster team spirit from a tight-knit group of players but that may now be tested by the intense rivalry between City and Liverpool.