Joe Gomez Opens Up on Aftermath of England Confrontation With Raheem Sterling

Liverpool's Joe Gomez has addressed his November altercation with Manchester City's Raheem Sterling on England duty, admitting he went through a 'difficult period'. 

The defender had been in an altercation with Sterling during Liverpool's feisty 3-1 victory over Manchester City but had assumed that the situation was now over following the end of the match. 

However, tensions continued to run high in the England camp days later when the 22-year-old went over to Sterling to shake the player's hand. Taking the act as offensive, Sterling attempted to put the Liverpool player in a headlock, resulting in a scratch down the side of Gomez's face. 

Speaking to The Athletic on the incident, Gomez said: “It was a difficult period, I enjoy football, it’s my passion, but there are a lot of things that come with it, like the limelight. That’s the thing that I didn’t enjoy."

The confrontation led to a public apology on ​Raheem Sterling's Instagram, and Gareth Southgate speaking out to diffuse the situation. The situation continued to escalate for Gomez, who was booed by England fans during the Three Lions' 6-0 win over Montenegro.

“If anything it has made me a bit more stand-offish,” he said of the crowd's booing. “But in terms of the actual situation (with Sterling), what happened happened. We spoke. It was done. As a team it was done. So in my head it was done.​"

“I haven’t really processed it," he added. "With what happened brings experience. I went out to train and I knew that the first session after it came out publicly, eyes were going to be on me. I was never used to that before. So, good or bad, it was an experience.”

Source : 90min