Raheem Sterling was ruled out through injury as England’s hopes of reaching the UEFA Nations League finals were ended by a 2-0 defeat away to an impressive Belgium.
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Sterling was ruled out of the Group A2 game in Heverlee ahead of kick-off after initially reporting a problem late last week.
However, England manager Gareth Southgate revealed that the issue was not a serious one and added that Sterling was expected to have recovered ‘by the end of the week’.
“Raheem felt something a couple of days ago and didn’t train on Friday as a precaution,” Southgate confirmed ahead of the game
He started training yesterday and wasn’t really happy with it. We have discussed it and it isn’t one to take a chance on.
“I think he will be fine by the end of the week, but the games for us just came too quickly.
“It was a slightly heavy pitch when we trained on Friday and it is a small niggle really.
“He had a good rest at the beginning of the week – it’s a bit of an unfortunate incident but not one that is going to keep him out for long.”
