Southgate reacts to Sterling tattoo controversy

England manager Gareth Southgate has said that attacker Raheem Sterling has done nothing wrong by displaying a tattoo of a gun on his leg.

The Manchester City player posted the picture on social media, eliciting calls from the fans for him to be removed from the England squad for the World Cup in Russia later this month.

"He knows what it means to him and he's comfortable he has done nothing wrong," said Southgate, BBC reports.

Ahead of England's friendly game against Nigeria on Saturday, Southgate has also praised the resilience of the former Liverpool player.

England and Nigeria will be playing each other for the third time in their history.

The first game between the two sides was in 1994 when David Platt gave the Three Lions the win by scoring the only goal of the game.

The last time they met was in a group game in the 2002 World Cup hosted by Korea and Japan. The game ended goalless.

"He has always been a resilient boy from when I worked with him in the under-21s, to even younger than that," Southgate added.

Sterling was instrumental for Manchester City as they won the Premier League with a record 100 points.

The Three Lions will be counting on the clever attack to dislodge defenders at this year's World Cup.