Brendan Rodgers questioned Raheem Sterling’s professionalism on Monday following the publication of a video appearing to show the Liverpool and England star inhaling nitrous oxide – also known as laughing gas – in his living room.
Liverpool manager Rodgers confirmed that he would speak to Sterling, who scored the opening goal in the club’s 2-0 Anfield victory against Newcastle United on Monday, before deciding on whether to punish the 20-year-old following his latest brush with controversy.
Raheem Sterling had a mixed night at Anfield
Having been exposed in a similar video sucking on a shisha pipe at the weekend, the footage of Sterling allegedly using nitrous oxide was published by The Sun shortly before kick-off in the Newcastle game.
And although Rodgers conceded that he had viewed the video, he insisted he owed it to Sterling to discuss the matter, before admitting he only wanted ‘super-professional’ players at Liverpool.
“For me, if you are a professional sports person at the top of the game, it is not something that you should be doing,” Rodgers said. “But I will speak to Raheem to see what he says because I only saw it today.
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“We want players here who are super-professional, focused on their football.
“I know he is (super-professional), but young players will make mistakes and as long as they learn from them, that’s the main thing.
“But it’s very simple. I will speak to Raheem on that. Until I do, we will deal with it internally.
“It isn’t a distraction – you can see that from way he plays. He is a kid who is strong-willed and probably should’ve had a hat-trick, but his performance was outstanding.”
The footage published by The Sun appears to show Sterling inhaling from an orange and pink balloon before turning to the camera and laughing. Sterling is then shown to be asleep.
Although nitrous oxide, which is also known as a hippy crack, is regarded as a ‘legal high’, there have been numerous incidents of people dying having inhaled the gas.
The Liverpool winger has rarely been out of the headlines in recent weeks
Some medical experts believe there to be potentially hazardous health risks associated with inhaling the substance.
Sterling is unlikely to face action from the Football Association, however, with Tottenham and England defender Kyle Walker going unpunished in September 2013 after being pictured inhaling the same substance.
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With Sterling angering a section of the Liverpool fanbase by refusing to discuss a new contract at Anfield – the player gave an unauthorised interview to the BBC explaining his decision to postpone talks – this latest incident is unlikely to smooth his relations with the club’s supporters, who applauded him off the pitch when substituted against Newcastle having aired derogatory chants about the player’s representatives.
Sterling’s contribution against Newcastle was decisive, however, as Liverpool moved to within four points of fourth-placed Manchester City in the race for Champions League qualification.
And after being 17 points adrift of Manuel Pellegrini’s team at the turn of the year, Rodgers insists Liverpool are capable of catching City between now and the end of the season.
Liverpool celebrate after Joe Allen secured the three points against Newcastle
“We will fight right to the end,” Rodgers said. “We are obviously on a great run having had two disappointing results and of course it’s always a crisis when you lose games here.
“We knew we had to respond, we got ourselves into the semi-final of a prestigious cup competition and won tonight, which was important.
“Obviously there are teams ahead of us, but as we saw last year, there can be changes and I still think there will be points dropped in the last six games.
“I feel that the players and myself are very motivated to do the best we can.
“We have shown we can put consistent wins together – we’re getting better, getting important players back and feel we have every chance.
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“But of course we are looking for others to slip up to. If we do that, we give ourselves a chance.”
Newcastle, meanwhile, ended the game down to 10 men following the 83rd-minute dismissal of midfielder Moussa Sissoko following a studs-up challenge on Lucas Leiva.
And Newcastle manager John Carver admitted he could fine Sissoko as a result of his red card.
“I am sure there will be some kind of disciplinary procedure,” Carver said. “I said before the game we needed to keep eleven players on the pitch.”
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