Football news - Raheem Sterling releases statement over Joe Gomez clash

Updated 12/11/2019 at 09:19 GMT

Raheem Sterling has told fans he has "moved on" from the incident that saw him clash with Joe Gomez on England duty.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 10: Raheem Sterling of Manchester City gestures during the Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Manchester City at Anfield on November 10, 2019 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. (Photo by Chloe Knott - Danehouse/Getty Im

Image credit: Getty Images

The pair came face to face on Sunday during Liverpool's 3-1 win over Manchester City, a feisty affair between the two Premier League title contenders.

Tempers flared on the field but then did so again when they met up as an England squad, resulting in national team boss Southgate dropping Sterling for Thursday's clash with Montenegro.

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The former Liverpool winger has subsequently released an apologetic statement on his Instagram, urging commentators not to blow the episode out of proportion.

"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.

"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."

Sterling and Gomez squared up to each other in the dying minutes of Liverpool vs Manchester City

Image credit: Getty Images

Southgate has made squad unity a priority since taking over as England boss, desperate to avoid cliques forming as they did during his time as a player.

There is no suggestion that this incident is a reflection of a breakdown in the squad's morale but the former defender did talk about the importance of keeping his players grounded if they are to be successful on the global stage.

"We can't have the arrogance that maybe we've had over the years - that we have a right to be in those latter stages," Southgate said this week.

"As a team and as a group of staff, we have to earn it.

"We've got to now raise the bar for the next decades to make sure they are more successful than the previous ones."

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