England and Chelsea forward Raheem Sterling has opened up about the "scary" robbery on his family home which occurred during the Qatar World Cup.
While Sterling was away in Qatar as part of Gareth Southgate's England squad, armed robbers broke into his home and stole around £300,000 worth of watches. As a result of the robbery, Sterling flew home to be with his family and missed England's 3-0 win over Senegal in the last-16.
He did return for the quarter-final clash against France, coming off the bench as England lost 2-1 to the eventual finalists. And Sterling has now spoken out about the experience, revealing he had been "in the process of getting security" at the property before the tournament.
"I beat myself up that I didn't keep my family secure," Sterling said in an interview with the Sun. "It's one thing I said I would always do, so it wasn't a nice feeling. I couldn't live with myself if anything had come to pass from it.
"It was something I meant to do before going to the World Cup and I didn't so I was beating myself up about it. It's the most scary thing to know with the age of the people living in my house. It's not a nice feeling."
The incident spooked the entire England camp, with Sterling's team-mate Kalvin Phillips admitting at the time the rest of the squad were also concerned about the safety of their own families. "Once one player goes through it, there is always a thought in the back of your mind that it might happen to you," Phillips said.
"It's not really a nice feeling when you are so far away and have family at home. Raheem feels good enough to join back up with us — and we're very happy his family are OK. It will be a massive lift.
"Raheem's an amazing player and obviously had to fly home with what’s gone on. We're just glad everything is OK now and he can rejoin us to play a big part in the next game, which we are looking forward to."
Sterling has struggled to find his feet at Chelsea this season following his £50million transfer from Manchester City in the summer. The Blues have endured a miserable campaign which has seen the club sack Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter, with current interim boss Frank Lampard now without a win in five games in charge.
“Sometimes you have lows,” Sterling admitted. “I haven’t been in this situation in my career so far but I am more than up to the challenge.
“We are disappointed when we come off the pitch and feel angry and disappointed. There are times when we finish a game you just sit in the changing room looking into space because you can’t understand what has just happened.”
