The England squad will miss the services of Raheem Sterling after the winger left the World Cup squad in Qatar and returned to London following a robbery attack on the forward’s home with his family inside.
England manager Gareth Southgate confirmed the news after Sunday’s 3-0 last-16 win against Senegal.
“Sometimes football isn’t the most important thing and family should come first,” said Southgate.
It was gathered reports, the incident happened on Saturday night. Sterling has three young children.
According to a spokesperson for the player, Sterling was “shaken” by the news and “as soon as he was alerted he wanted to get home, concerned for the well-being of his children.”
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Southgate added: “We want to give him that space and we will see over the next few days how that develops.”
Speaking after the Senegal match Sterling’s team-mate Declan Rice said: “I saw him at breakfast this morning then the manager said he had the difficulties at home so we’ve all sent him a message.”
England’s next match at the World Cup is against France in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
Sterling is the second player to leave the England squad after Arsenal defender Ben White, who returned to the UK on 30 November for personal reasons.
