This archive report was first published on 12 November 2019.
On November 12, 2019, England's Raheem Sterling was dropped from the team's Euro 2020 qualifier against Montenegro after a brief altercation with Liverpool's Joe Gomez.
According to Sterling, he allowed his emotions to get the better of him, leading to the confrontation, which occurred the day after Liverpool's 3-1 win over Manchester City.
"Both Joe and I have had words and figured things out and moved on," Sterling said in an Instagram post.
"We are in a sport where emotions run high and I am man enough to admit when emotions got the better of me," he added.
England manager Gareth Southgate moved quickly to deal with the issue, citing the need to separate club rivalries from the national team.
"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," Southgate said in a statement.
Despite the controversy, Sterling has been one of the stars of England's qualification campaign, scoring eight goals in six games.
A draw against Montenegro at Wembley will be enough to guarantee England's place at Euro 2020.
