As soon as Pep Guardiola got to know that his would-be pupil Raheem Sterling is psychologically affected by the growing dislike towards him, the new Sky Blues boss was quick to connect a telephone line to the playmaker to provide him some comfort.

Sterling is someone who is unable to remain disconnected with social networking sites and other platforms used by the fans to share their views and that is probably why he has gone into a negative mind-set.

One of his recent photos on a photo sharing social website suggests that he is hurt to have seen himself become as unpopular as he has. He can’t quite make peace with that which a sportsman has to.

However, to be fair, for a guy who has just entered his twenties and doesn’t have enough maturity one requires to deal with the highs and lows of professional sports, he needs an arm to be put around his shoulders at times.

Of course, Roy Hodgson would have had a word with him trying to provide him some peace and a psychiatrist is present in the England camp too who was in fact a Liverpool employee in the past and so knows Sterling well.

But, to hear that his new club boss is rating him high despite the loss of form, there could not have been a bigger confidence booster to him. Yes, it was an interaction only via phone, but, it was just the right tonic for the young man prior to Euro knockouts.

For the time being, Daniel Sturridge, his former Reds’ teammate, is keeping Sterling out and he would be on the bench for sure in the Monday evening’s pre quarter, but, who knows, he might have a job to do for England when it comes to the crunch in the competition.