Sterling clashes with Gomez, dropped from England squad

'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.'

England's Raheem Sterling has conceded that emotions got the better of him in a bust-up with teammate Joe Gomez at the national training camp but said he was ready to move on after being dropped by the Football Association.

The Daily Mail reported that Manchester City winger Sterling had clashed with Liverpool's Gomez after the England team got together at their Burton on Trent training centre on Monday -- less than 24 hours after City lost 3-1 at Liverpool.

"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 this sport because of our love for it -- me and @joegomez5 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.

"Let's get focus on our game on Thursday," Sterling said on his Instagram account.

The FA has decided to drop Sterling from Thursday's EURO 2020 qualifier against Montenegro as a result of a "disturbance" in a private team area.

Sterling, who has scored 12 goals in 55 England appearances, has been one of the first-team regulars under manager Gareth Southgate and scored twice in the recent 6-0 win to Bulgaria.

Last season, he was named Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers' Association after scoring 25 goals in all competitions as City won a domestic treble of the Premier League title, League Cup and FA Cup.