Raheem Sterling has responded to the news that he has been dropped from the England team for Thursday's Euro 2020 qualifier after an incident with Joe Gomez in the England camp.
England teammates, but Premier League rivals, Sterling and Gomez squared up to each other in Sunday's league game between Manchester City and Liverpool.
On Monday night it was announced by England that the City forward wouldn't be 'considered' for Thursday's game as 'the emotions of yesterday's game were still raw,' with a second incident believed to have taken place on national duty.
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Sterling took to social media to respond to the news, saying, "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.
"This is why we play the sport, because of our love for it. Me and Joe 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."
According to the Daily Mail the incident with the national team that led to Sterling being dropped took place in the canteen at St George's Park.
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The 24-year-old is believed to have been sat down when the Liverpool defender leant over him to shake his hand and greet him 'warmly.'
The former Liverpool winger reacted badly and attempted to grab his rival by the neck with players first believing it to be a joke before separating the pair when they realised Sterling wasn't joking.
Sterling apologised for the outburst with the apology accepted by Gomez and the rest of the squad, though Gareth Southgate initially considered dropping the forward from the squad completely.
Former England generations, specifically the so-called 'Golden Generation' have spoken in the past about how club rivalries spilled into England camps and stopped them from being more successful.
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In his statement Southgate alluded to how well the recent Three Lions side have managed to avoid those rivalries in the past saying, "One of the great challenges and strengths for us is that we've been able to separate club rivalries from the national team."
In recent years though there has been no great, nasty, rivalry at the top of England's top tier. The recent clash between Liverpool and City has changed all that, even in the last 10 days.
Southgate and England now need to find a way to stop this being an issue again.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Manchester City, Liverpool, Football News, Euro 2020, International Football, Premier League, England, Joe Gomez, Gareth Southgate, Raheem Sterling