Brendan Rodgers has said Raheem Sterling's behaviour was unbecoming of a professional sportsman after footage emerged of the Liverpool forward apparently taking nitrous oxide.
Sterling opened the scoring for Liverpool in their 2-0 win over Newcastle United on Monday, a result that takes them to within four points of Manchester City in the race for Champions League qualification, but the 20-year-old’s contribution was overshadowed by the latest revelations regarding his private life.
The England international was pictured smoking a shisha pipe in a Sunday newspaper and images have now emerged of him appearing to pass out having allegedly taken the legal substance otherwise known as laughing gas.
Rodgers will speak to Sterling privately before deciding what action to take with a player who is in dispute with Liverpool over a new contract.
But the Liverpool manager admitted it was not the behaviour expected of a professional athlete.
“When you are professional sportsperson at the top level of the game, I don’t think it is something you should be doing. It is as simple as that,” the Liverpool manager said. “But I will speak to him and see what he says about it.
“I want players here who are super-professional and focused on their football and I know he very much is. Young players will make mistakes but as long as they learn from them, that is important.”
Rodgers claimed that any disciplinary measures would be “something we will deal with internally” but denied the recent controversies surrounding Sterling are proving a distraction.
"You can see by the way he plays [that it is not]. He is a kid who is very strong willed and strong minded," said Rodgers. "He should have had a hat-trick tonight. His performance was outstanding. Him and Philippe Coutinho were at a world-class level."
Having written off Liverpool’s chances of finishing in the top four after their recent defeat at Arsenal, Rodgers’ stance has altered in the wake of City’s consecutive losses to Crystal Palace and Manchester United.
“We will fight to the very end,” said a more confident Liverpool manager. “We are on a great run. We have won 10 of 13 games but had two disappointing results and it is always a crisis when you lose games. We knew we had to respond and have also got ourselves into the semi-final of the FA Cup. There are teams above us but as we saw last year there can be changes and points dropped and I think there will be changes. The players and myself and very motivated to do the best we can but we are looking for other teams to slip up and we have to continue winning.”
Rodgers confirmed Daniel Sturridge missed the win over Newcastle with a hip problem and remains a doubt for Sunday's FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa at Wembley.
(Guardian service)
