Raheem Sterling shrugs off week in spotlight to guide England to win | Dominic Fifield

The forward grabbed the headlines again but this time for all the right reasons following an influential display against Nigeria

Raheem Sterling had departed the fray here with just over a quarter of an hour still to play, Gareth Southgate offering him a congratulatory pat on the back as he made his way across the technical area en route to a place behind the England dugout. Plenty the forward had offered had been excellent but, after the week he had endured, he would have pined for something more restorative than this. In his mind the script would not have seen him booked for a second-half dive, or squirting shots from his clearest sights first wide and then high. But, in truth, perhaps this was more in keeping with recent times.

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