Football news - Gareth Southgate discusses Raheem Sterling and Joe Gomez clash
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Published 12/11/2019 at 15:48 GMT
Gareth Southgate has praised his senior England players for "bringing everybody together" after the incident that saw Raheem Sterling dropped from the team to face Montenegro.
England's manager Gareth Southgate attends an England press conference at St George's Park in Burton-on-Trent, central England on November 12, 2019, ahead of their Euro 2020 football qualification match against Montenegro. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP) / NO
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Sterling reportedly confronted Gomez when he arrived for England duty this week and the pair had to be separated.
Jordan Henderson is understood to have played peacemaker over the phone - he is not due to report for England duty until Wednesday - and helped resolved the issue between the two players, who had also squared up to each other during Liverpool's 3-1 win over Manchester City.
Southgate has removed Sterling from consideration for Thursday's qualifier against Montenegro, although he has remained with the squad and should feature against Kosovo on Sunday.
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Sterling and Gomez clashed during their Premier League meeting on Sunday
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"I think it was important to come and speak publicly so that the players don’t need to deal with that going forward," Southgate said.
"Raheem in his post last night explained that for a very brief moment his emotions ran over. It would be correct to say that that was not the same for Joe.
"We have some excellent senior players who have played a part in bringing everybody together.
"When you’ve made a decision like that it’s going to be public on Wednesday or Thursday anyway and I’d rather deal with it now than on the day of the game."
Sterling himself released a statement on Tuesday morning on Instagram explaining that he and Gomez had resolved the issue and both were seen at training.
"First and foremost everyone knows what that game means to me!" Sterling wrote.
"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.
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Sterling apologised for the incident on Instagram
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"We are in a sport where emotions run high and I am man enough to admit when emotions got the better of me.
"We move this is why we play this sport because of our love for it. Me and [Gomez] 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."
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