Joe Gomez found himself on the end of some verbals from Manchester City man Raheem Sterling while the duo were on international duty at St James’.
Other England players were said to be surprised by a second outburst from the winger who asked Gomez if he still thought he was the “big man“, according to the Telegraph.
The pair had words at the tail end of the Reds’ 3-1 win over the Citizens on Sunday, and it seems Sterling has allowed it to get the better of him on international duty.
MORE: ‘Still the big man?’ – Why Sterling chucked out of England squad for Gomez row
But it’s the response from the Liverpool man in the England camp that impressed the rest of the Three Lions’ squad.
As per the same Telegraph report, Sterling was goading Gomez and trying to start a physical confrontation, but the 6’2″ centre half was having none of it.
Sterling believed to have asked if Gomez still thought he was the “big man” before getting into his face looking for a reaction.
Gomez impressed others by refusing to be goaded into retaliating physically and instead taking a step back.https://t.co/4aYZZe0Xu8
— Jack Sear (@JackSear) November 11, 2019
This is honestly quite disappointing – Sterling is now one of the more senior players in the squad, and he’s allowed something that happened at club level to spill over.
We’d be having a different discussion had Gomez responded and sparked out the winger, but he didn’t and in doing so has shown more professionalism than his 24-year-old colleague.
The Man City man later realised the mistake he had made, and offered an apology to Gomez, which was accepted, but the damage was already done. Sterling has now been dropped from the England squad for the Kosovo game.