GAME CHANGER

Lethal and cool on the pitch.. committed and campaigning off it.. City superstar Sterling now holds a special place in today’s society

THE big athletes make a contribution to society as well as history.

The ones we remember most have brought about change – and have still gone on to rip it up on the pitch.

In years to come, Raheem Sterling will be remembered as much – even more so – for his contribution to English football’s structural unconscious bias as he is for being among Manchester City’s key players.

His bravery in raising the issues that the game does not want to do anything about is matched only by the ice in his veins when a goalscoring chance presents itself.

His destruction of

Brighton here was both a thing of beauty, but also sadistic with the Seagulls plucked and roasted by the time the City team bus departed the Amex.

It never goes to Sterling’s head, however. The England forward, 25, has no intention of dining out on his towering achievements.

You will have seen the goals on Match of the Day, Goals on Sunday or even Sky Sports News. What you may not have seen is the way in which Pep Guardiola put into context the impact of a young man rapidly writing himself into sporting history.

“When you have a commitment to society to make a better society for yourself and your kids, that commitment helps you to be a better player. Also, big athletes make a commitment for our society,” said the City boss

(below, with Sterling).

“Raheem and a lot of people around the world, what they are doing is to bring a better world. It is difficult, what we are living, but I’m really proud of him, what he is doing and he knows that as a club we support him 100 per cent.”

With that landmark Instagram post condemning the unconscious bias in the British media, followed up by his Newsnight interview last month calling for more black managers and administrators, Sterling is – quite literally – changing the game.

On the pitch he has hit 27 goals in all competitions for City this term. Sterling’s hat-trick here lifted him to second in their all-time Premier League scoring charts behind Sergio Aguero.

Gabriel Jesus and Bernardo Silva bagged the other two goals, either side of half-time.

Sterling has surpassed the 25 goals he netted last season. And he and his side could yet end the current campaign with the FA Cup and Champions League trophy, too. Arsenal surely have it all to do to stop him in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final, while City lead Real Madrid in their quarter-final tie in Europe’s elite club competition. And there’s the thing. Should the Court of Arbitration for Sport uphold City’s two-year ban from the Champions League, they could find themselves fielding offers for their prize asset.

Sterling has three years left on his contact with only the likes of Paris Saint-germain, Real Madrid and Barcelona able to afford him.

A goalscorer of his quality, however, would improve all of those sides. It raises the stakes of today’s verdict from CAS.

Sterling is far from the only player at the Etihad who could have itchy feet with no Champions League football. It goes without saying, however, that

City will struggle to find a replacement for one of the world’s most lethal goalscorers right now.

2015-16: Prem goals 6 Total 11 2016-17 : Prem goals 7 Total 10 2017-18: Prem goals 18 Total 23 2018-19 Prem goals 17 Total 25 2019-20 Prem goals 17 Total 27

PEP GUARDIOLA insists his Manchester City stars still want more – after securing second place in the league with their win at Brighton. The Spaniard’s players face Arsenal in the FA Cup on Saturday and host Real Madrid in the Champions League next month. And Guardiola DANGER MAN City hat-trick hero Sterling has 27 goals so far this season (below) said: “The performance against Brighton was good, quite similar to all our performances since we came back. “Now what we have to do is finish the season with the three games we have left, and especially the two competitions we have ahead of us.”