Manchester City suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Liverpool in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals at Anfield. But when the teams were announced a lot of City fans were astonished to see that Raheem Sterling’s name was not on it.
Sterling has easily been one of the star performers for Pep Guardiola’s side this campaign and his omission from the starting XI was a bit shocking for a lot of people.
Before the start of the game, former Man United defender and current BT Sport pundit claimed that the manager did not opt to start with because the forward left Liverpool to join Man City under bitter circumstances.
Ferdinand said: “I think the only reason Sterling isn’t playing is because of this stadium and his ties to the club,
“He played here for a little while and when he’s been back he has not been at his supreme best.”
Sterling joined Manchester City from Liverpool in the summer of 2015 Manchester City for an initial £44 million.
Since then the 23-year-old has made a total of 132 appearances for the club – scoring 42 goals.
This season under Pep Guardiola the English International has really shown what he is capable of scoring 21 goals in just 38 appearances in all competitions.
But it seems that the Man City manager made a big blunder by not choosing to start with Raheem Sterling.
