Sterling And Gomez’s Bust-up Was Exaggerated – Roy Keane

Raheem Sterling’s fight with Joe Gomez on England duty earlier this week was blown out of proportion, according to Roy Keane.

Sterling clashed with Joe Gomez after reporting for international duty, leaving the Liverpool defender with a scratch below his right eye.

The 2 players battled on the pitch last Sunday during Liverpool’s 3-1 Premier League win over City at Anfield, and tensions grew at the England camp the next day.

However, Keane believes their quarrel was not as serious as the media is making it.

His words, “Speaking from experience, having been a manager seeing players having fisticuffs, and I’ve had it myself as a player, I think they’ve made a bigger deal of it than it really is,”

“It’s all part of the game. We’re quick to criticise players for not caring, obviously, Raheem is upset about whatever happened the previous day.

“I’m not patting him on the back for going at one of his team-mates but I think Gareth could have played it down easily, saying ‘it’s no big deal, we move on.”

On if dropping Sterling was a wrong move, “I personally don’t think so, but I’m not disagreeing with what Gareth has done because he knows more than us,”

“From my own experience – I had a fight with Peter Schmeichel in a hotel lobby, to be fair it was about four o’clock in the morning and there weren’t many people around, we got pulled by the manager who told us we were both a disgrace. To be fair to Peter, he apologised and we moved on.

“But it never affected us as team-mates or wanting the same thing. When I see the PR side of it where players have to apologise to the group, I don’t get it. If you have a bust-up with somebody, why are you apologising to your team-mates? It’s all part of the game. Sometimes players have to clear the air.”