Raheem Sterling was named on Manchester City’s bench for the game against Tottenham by Pep Guardiola a day after Jose Mourinho had predicted that he would play following his withdrawal from the England squad last week.
Sterling didn’t feature in any of England’s three international games against the Republic of Ireland, Belgium or Iceland over the past fortnight after complaining of a calf problem during training. He was subsequently sent back to his club for assessment.
Speaking ahead of the game, Mourinho called on Southgate to name the managers who put pressure on him to withdraw their players from international duty before stating confidently that “Raheem will play tomorrow”.
“Gareth Southgate, I read, said he feels the need to call club managers to try to cool down emotions and try to control the difficult situations for him,” Mourinho said.
“I would like him to say which are the coaches that he calls and he speaks on the phone with.
“Apart from that he has the right to call up the players he wants. He wants to win matches, especially after a defeat, even being a dead rubber, I sympathise with that.
“And of course we all know Sterling will play tomorrow. When Eric Dier left the national team injured in the previous month, he didn’t play two matches for Tottenham. He didn’t play a Premier League match and a Europa League match. He needed a couple of weeks to recover and Raheem is going to play tomorrow.
“These are the little details that Gareth should explain to us all but apart from that I totally support him in the fact a national team is to be respected and play the players he wants to play.”
Guardiola snapped back at his long-term rival by saying: “Mourinho has to speak to the doctor for the national team of England and the doctor for Manchester City. Except maybe Mourinho is a doctor, I don’t know.”
Guardiola opted to name Sterling as a substitute alongside the returning Sergio Aguero and Phil Foden who had impressed in England’s 4-0 win over Iceland on Wednesday with two goals and an assist.
Mourinho, meanwhile, dropped Gareth Bale to the bench following an ineffectual display against West Brom before the break and called Steven Bergwijn into the side for only his second league start of the season.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3kPM60H
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