Qatar World Cup 2022: Raheem Sterling to return to England after armed burglary at home

Qatar World Cup 2022: Raheem Sterling missed England’s 3-0 win over Senegal in the pre-quarters on Sunday. He will fly back to England after reports of an armed burglary at his home and could join the side later.

Ayush Gupta

First Published Dec 5, 2022, 2:10 PM IST | Last Updated Dec 5, 2022, 2:10 PM IST

English striker Raheem Sterling raised a few eyebrows after he missed his side’s 2022 FIFA World Cup pre-quarters game in Qatar on Sunday at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor. The Three Lions managed to fare well without him, as they won 3-0, thanks to strikes from Jordan Henderson (38), Harry Kane (45+1) and Bukayo Saka (57). It was reported before the contest that Chelsea forward would be missing the game for “personal reason”, while later, it was revealed that there had been an armed burglary at his home. While his family is believed to be safe, he will be flying out to check on them.

After England’s victory, head coach Gareth Southgate was interrogated on the matter by ITV, to which he replied, “I don’t know because at the moment it’s a situation that he needs to be with his family to deal with. I don’t want to put him under any pressure with this. Sometimes football isn’t the most important thing, and family has to come first.”

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English skipper Kane also shared his thoughts about Sterling and his family, as he articulated, “Our thoughts are with him and his family. It’s a private matter, but it’s never easy to see one of your teammates and friends deal with something like that. We’ll have to take it day by day. Raheem will speak to the manager and take the best decision for him and his family. That’s the most important thing. We send him our best wishes and hope to see him as soon as possible.”

Also, goal-scorer Henderson enunciated, “I hope everything’s okay with Raheem’s family at home, and I hope he goes back and can sort everything out. Hopefully, he can come back, but I suppose he’ll have to assess when he gets there. All our thoughts and support are with him.”

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Also, Eric Dier told Stats Perform, “We all wish him and his family well. We hope everyone’s okay. I just found out before the game. I don’t know more than that. Just wish him all the best.” Fellow teammate Declan Rice added, “I saw him at breakfast this morning, and the manager said he’d had some difficulty with his family at home. We’ll send him a message and wait to hear more.”

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