Raheem Sterling Won’t Feature For Manchester City Against Liverpool Next Month

So, uh, this happened.

Early on Saturday, Manchester City traveled to Bournemouth and secured a 2-1 win. After going down a goal early in the first half, Gabriel Jesus leveled the scored ten minutes later and City held that score for much of the rest of the game. It looked to be headed for a draw before former Liverpool forward Raheem Sterling score a stupendous goal deep, deep in stoppage time to get the win.

But what happened next made the result very much beside the point.

Sterling ran to the visiting fans and jumped into the crowd to join in what was, understandably, an exuberant celebration. The former Red was already on a yellow, but let’s be honest here— if you scored a late stoppage time goal to win the game for your side, you’d have some trouble keeping composed too.

In any event, the official wasn’t amused and showed Sterling a second yellow card. City won the game but lost one of their most potent attackers.

The sending-off will force Sterling to miss City’s next Premier League game. Which JUST SO HAPPENS to be against Liverpool.

City manager Pep Guardiola was obviously frustrated with the decision. It’s not reasonable to think that the club might try to appeal the suspension ahead of the Reds’ visit on September 9th so that Sterling would be available for selection. With the international break between now and then, City have plenty of time to build a case.

But as of now, Sterling will not feature against Liverpool. Let the hot takes commence!