He is no stranger to negative headlines.
Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling has for years been something of a target for the tabloid media. Whether he’s had a bad game, had a good game, bought a new car or done something nice for his mother, some media outlets find a way to criticise him for it.
On Wednesday night, the former Liverpool man was the star of the show as he secured a late, unlikely winner for City against Schalke in their UEFA Champions League second round tie.
Having been 2-1 down and reduced to 10 men, City scored two goals in the last 10 minutes to come away from Gelsenkirchen with three invaluable away goals.
When it's 2-2.
In the 90th minute.
vs the Champions League favourites.
And your left-back has an absolute mare…#S04MCI #UCL #VMSport pic.twitter.com/R7Qxqnp0cM
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) February 20, 2019
Sterling’s winner, which was beautifully taken after he controlled a laser-focused long ball from goalkeeper Ederson, saw him lavished with praise on the back pages.
Tweeting about it post-game, Sterling joked that he would take a screenshot of the positive headlines because they’re unlikely to happen again soon.
“Wow nice headlines….. gonna make a screenshot of these cause it might not happen soon again,” he tweeted, quoting a tweet from Manchester City fan account City Watch with four different back pages.
Wow nice headlines….. gonna make a screenshot of these cause it might not happen soon again 😅😅 https://t.co/ark369UeZ5
— Raheem Sterling (@sterling7) February 20, 2019
The tweet prompted hundreds of replies from supporters, with some joking that he would be called ‘lazy’ by some corners of the media for not scoring until the 89th minute.
Perhaps the best response though came from his City teammate and resident social media man Benjamin Mendy, who replied quite succinctly with this simple and effective gif.
— Benjamin Mendy (@benmendy23) February 20, 2019
