Sterling ‘attacked and racially abused’
City forward accosted outside training ground Winger shrugged off incident with two goals
Raheem Sterling was allegedly attacked and racially abused as he arrived at Manchester City’s training ground yesterday morning in preparation for their game against Tottenham Hotspur.
The England forward was believed to have been kicked and branded a “n-----” by a man who appeared to be waiting for the 23-year-old at the players’ entrance at City’s CFA training base, according to sources.
Sterling had pulled into the entrance in his car as he arrived for City’s prematch preparations, at which point he is believed to have been confronted by the man hurling a barrage of abuse at him.
The Sunday Telegraph understands that Sterling got out of his car to ask what the problem was only for the man to react by reportedly kicking the City player in the leg.
It is unclear at this stage whether City have opted to report the incident to Greater Manchester Police, but it is thought the sickening scenes were caught on CCTV. It is not believed the man was known to Sterling. City have yet to make any comment on the matter.
Sterling did not suffer any injuries in the alleged attack and he went on to start and score twice – his 14th and 15th goals of an extraordinary season so far – in City’s 4-1 victory over Tottenham as Pep Guardiola’s side moved 14 points clear at the top of the Premier League.
A popular figure at City, Sterling has deliberately sought to keep a lower profile after some of his behaviour earlier in his career attracted the wrong headlines and is showing clear signs of maturing on and off the pitch.
In January, Sterling’s partner, Paige Milian, gave birth to their son, Thiago, and only weeks later he moved to a rural mansion outside Crewe and deliberately away from the spotlight. Guardiola made no mention of the apparent incident in his post-match press conference during which he lauded City’s 16th successive league victory.
Harry Kane and Dele Alli had both been fortunate to escape red cards for poor challenges on Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne but Guardiola preferred to focus on his side’s strengths rather than criticise Tottenham’s heavy-handed approach.
De Bruyne scored City’s second moments after Alli’s studs-up chalklenge on his ankle and Guardiola said the Belgium midfielder’s reaction was an example to all young footballers. “The two actions were dangerous with Harry Kane on Raz [Sterling] and the other one, but you have to adapt to the physicality in the Premier League,” Guardiola said. “You saw what happened but fortunately it was just a kick. I am really surprised.
“I have to thank all my players, especially Kevin, for the fact that he is one of the most important players and you see how he runs without the ball. He is a good example for the young players, for the Academy, for Phil Foden, for Brahim Diaz.
“They know how good Kevin is and when they see how he runs and fights without the ball, that is the best example. He helps us to be a better club, a better institution for the future. That is what he does.
“His performance in this game? I have no words to describe what he has done with the ball, how many assists and shifting the play. All the time he watches the game in his head and without the ball is able to make pressure from 40 minutes to the goalkeeper. Behind him, people see it and know they have to run like that as well.”
Sterling got out of his car to see what the problem was and was reportedly kicked in the leg by the man
It was easy at times to forget that this was the second-best team in the Premier League last season, but on this occasion just another visitor departing the Etihad Stadium wondering how to piece themselves together after the kind of demolition that can shatter confidence.
Manchester City’s winning run stands at 16 now and this one was another brutalising experience for Tottenham Hotspur, who will have to live with the way they were torn apart over and again in a fixture they drew last season.
Pep Guardiola has not just produced a team who dominate possession and win games, but one who now hunt down even their beaten opponents with an unnerving ruthlessness.
Guardiola has now matched his longest winning run at Barcelona, in the 2010-2011 season, and he is in sight of the European record of 19 straight wins held by Bayern Munich, when they were under the guidance of a certain celebrated Catalan coach. The appetite to annihilate opposing teams seems to be sharpening and it was epitomised by the outstanding Kevin De Bruyne, picking out passes, scoring the second goal himself and playing with an edge that suggests a man anxious to make history.
Caught in the City whirlwind, Spurs were clinging on at times and just trying to remind themselves they were playing the same game. They could point to key absentees among their own side, but City achieved this victory without their great playmaker David Silva, left out for a family emergency.
Afterwards, Guardiola said that De Bruyne’s appetite to work without the ball, to nick possession and block off channels, was as crucial to his influence on the team, and the wider club, as his match-winning passes and gamechanging goals. Having been flayed in the first half, when Silva’s deputy Ilkay Gundogan scored the first, Spurs were eventually broken down again after the break. De Bruyne scored a second, and Raheem Sterling chipped in with two more in the last 10 minutes.
There was time still for Gabriel Jesus to miss a penalty, drilled against the post after he had come on for Sergio Aguero. The Argentine was substituted on 56 minutes, the earliness of it showing that his manager cares not for anyone’s feelings when there is a game to be won. Aguero’s response was the removal of his gloves, tossed on to the pitch with a contemptuous flick and a slow, simmering walk to the touchline.
It was a bad day for Spurs, who scored deep in injury-time through Christian Eriksen, one of a number of their main men whose game barely flickered into life. There were secondhalf fouls from Harry Kane and Dele Alli that could have earned red cards on another day and the latter was substituted having scarcely done a thing.
Mauricio Pochettino refused to discuss the form of the younger of the two Englishmen after the match, adamant that he was not about to single out individuals for blame, but he must be concerned about Alli. His stamp on De Bruyne might have been an accident, but it was symptomatic of a performance when Alli was simply off the pace and out of the running.
The away team were without the injured Toby Alderweireld, as well as Victor Wanyama and Davinson Sanchez, and it showed. Their old boy Kyle Walker was on the opposing side and in his former role for Spurs was Kieran Trippier, who had a wretched time trying to deal with Leroy Sane. Even so, the rest of City’s defence – Eliaquim Mangala, Nicolas Otamendi and Fabian Delph – looked vulnerable, but Spurs barely got close to testing them.
De Bruyne won the corner for Gundogan’s goal, and the German was unmarked when Sane swung in the cross from the left side for the midfielder to head in. “The way we conceded the goal was a massive mistake,” said Pochettino, but even by then they were on the back foot.
De Bruyne’s supreme confidence is encouraging him to hit passes quicker than ever. He chased down Spurs in possession and he demanded every decision in his favour – including a yellow card for his fellow Belgian Mousa Dembele. Like every player at the very peak of his game he expects everything to go his way, and most of the time it did.
There should have been more goals before half-time, but it did not quite fall for City. Kane took a boot to the face from Otamendi which earned the Argentine a booking, and the striker did not manage a shot on target before the break. He finally forced the first decent save that Ederson on 55 minutes, but City were back in the game quickly. Kane was fortunate to escape worse than a booking for a lunge at the ball that caught Sterling on the ankle – a foul somewhere between yellow and red.
Alli did much the same to De Bruyne and was also given a yellow card. Guardiola later described the fouls in a television interview as “dangerous”.
Whatever opportunity might have been there to build some new momentum was gone and City came back with a vengeance. Before Alli’s stamp, Sane had blasted past Trippier and Hugo Lloris had just about got a hand to his shot
strong enough to block it. Then in the 70th minute City broke from back to front again, De Bruyne finally getting the ball in the left channel and unleashing an unstoppable shot past Lloris.
De Bruyne won the penalty too, with Jan Vertonghen offering no protest to referee Craig Pawson’s decision to punish a reckless sliding tackle. Jesus had come on for Aguero and he took the penalty, dashing it against the post and Fernandinho skied the rebound.
In the final 10 minutes Sterling got two goals, the first rolled in from Gundogan’s cross after another City move that had taken them up the pitch at speed. Then there was a fourth after a bad mistake from Eric Dier let Sterling in on goal and he shuffled the ball past Lloris to score. The game was well over when Eriksen sent a left-foot shot past Ederson, a postscript to a thrashing.