Story via Caughtoffside
Raheem Sterling’s passionate goal celebration against Hungary was dedicated to a late friend, The Sun reports.
Sterling, who was England’s star performer at Euro 2020 over the summer, continued his excellent goal-scoring form for The Three Lions with the opening goal away to Hungary in World Cup qualifying.
The Manchester City winger shrugged off the hostile atmosphere, and reports of monkey chants [as reported by Sky News], to make the difference for his country on the night.
Having found the back of the Hungarian net, Sterling took off his England top to reveal an undershirt which read, “LOVE YOU FOREVER STEFFIE GREGG.”
While we were previously in the dark as to who Sterling was dedicating the goal to, The Sun have revealed that Steffie Gregg is a friend of the England star who recently passed away from complications from COVID-19.
The report notes that Gregg, who had underlying health issues, sadly died at the age of just 26. She had previously been to watch Sterling in action at the Etihad.
Gregg also had an Instagram account solely dedicated to gaming. She was both an influencer and Twitch streamer, the daughter or a racing driver and niece of a music producer.
For Sterling to have dedicated a World Cup qualifying goal to her speaks volumes about how close the pair were. He, and the rest of his friends and family, must have been left heartbroken.
Even if Gregg did have underlying health issues, for a prominent figure to have died from COVID-19 at the age of 26 is sobering. This pandemic is not over, people are still dying.