Sterling Dropped By England After Altercation With Liverpool’s Joe Gomez

Sterling and Gomez were involved in a squabble towards the end of Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday and tensions continued to boil over when the pair met for international commitments at Saint George’s Park a day later.

The Football Association confirmed that Sterling had been dropped for the EURO 2020 qualifier against Montenegro at Wembley on Thursday but will remain with the squad ahead of their final game against Kosovo three days later.

Sterling, who has scored eight goals and provided five assists in the EURO 2020 qualifiers, took to social media to clear things up regarding the incident.

"Both Joe and I have had words and figured things out and moved on," Sterling said via his Instagram account on Tuesday.

"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 Joe Gomez are good, we both understand it was a five to 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," Sterling added.

England need just a point from their final two games to seal their place at next year’s continental tournament.

England manager Gareth Southgate added: "We have taken the decision to not consider Raheem for the match against Montenegro on Thursday.

"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.

"My feeling is that the right thing for the team is the action we have taken. 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."