Get the biggest City stories, analysis and transfer updates delivered straight to your inbox Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Fernandinho has leapt to the defence of Manchester City teammate Raheem Sterling. The 23-year-old England winger was harshly criticised this week for his new tattoo - a machine gun at the bottom of his right leg. Anti-gun campaigners and The Sun were among those to slam Sterling, who took to Instagram to explain the meaning behind the tattoo. "When I was 2 my father died from being gunned down to death," Sterling wrote. "I made a promise to myself I would never touch a gun in my lifetime. I shoot with my right foot so it has a deeper meaning and is still unfinished." Earlier this week City full-back Danilo defended Sterling's decision to get the new tattoo and now another Brazlian has had his say on the matter. "I don’t know why the people treat him like that,” Fernandinho said. "I’m glad because we have him. He’s a lovely guy and he never gives up, even with a lot of criticism about him and his football. "He’s one of our top players. He decided so many games for us this season, was so important for us. "They write about him and you can see some pursue it against him. He’s a lovely guy, nice guy, and every day he’s up, he’s happy, and I’m so glad to share the dressing room with him." On Thursday Kyle Walker made a mockery of the furore surrounding Sterling, uploading a picture to Instagram of himself holding a camera alongside the caption: "Smile for the camera... but make sure you cover up your tattoos lads."<doc-sep>Once you have subscribed we will use the email you provided to send you the newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the newsletter email. If England are to have a successful World Cup this summer, Raheem Sterling will probably have a big role to play in it. Sterling has had a fantastic season at Manchester City and will surely be starting for Gareth Southgate’s side in Russia. However, instead of fully focusing on preparations for the tournament that starts in less than two weeks, Sterling has been having to defend himself in the media. Sterling has been pictured in England training with a gun tattoo on his leg - a tattoo that has received a ridiculous amount of backlash. Sterling came out to explain his ink by revealing that it was in tribute of his Father, who was shot dead at age of two. But still, the forward's explanation wasn’t enough for some people who continue to criticise him. But at least Sterling has one supporter in the form of boxer Tony Bellew. The Evertonian boxer, in his column for Metro, has called the treatment of Sterling a “disgrace.” “It’s a disgrace what the press are trying to do to Raheem Sterling. I feel sorry for the poor lad, it’s an absolute disgrace,” Bellew wrote. "There’s far more important stuff going on in the world than a tattoo on a man’s leg. Let’s be honest, they all took pictures after Manchester City won the title and he had it on his leg then. Why wait until he’s going to the World Cup to bring it up? Sterling is constantly slandered by the English media and it’s a disgrace. "I don’t like to touch on whether it’s racial or anything, but I’ll be honest the way the English media are targeting him is terrible. I don’t want to tarnish anyone by bringing in the race issue, but I’m just going to be honest, it’s a young black lad who the British media are trying to ruin. That’s how it looks like from the outside looking in. "I don’t think it is racial, because there’s nothing that points to that. But one week they’re whinging about him being on a £100,000 week, the next it’s £200,000 a week, then he’s driving a dirty car – it’s a disgrace, leave the boy alone. What is he doing? The lad is enjoying his life. “They asked what’s a man on £200,000 a week doing in Primark? What’s that got to do with anyone? So what, who cares? Leave the boy alone to live his life. He’s not hurting anyone. If he wants to get a tattoo on his face he can, it’s his forehead. It’s his leg. He can do whatever he wants, that’s the beauty of living in a free country. Let’s look at what this lad does do. He pays millions upon millions of pounds in taxes a year to this country. “He puts hundreds, if not thousands, of nurses, firemen and policeman into work every year through the taxes he pays. The British media are a disgrace and things like this are the reason I don’t buy newspapers anymore. He shouldn’t even have to explain why he got that tattoo. It’s got nothing to do with anyone what he tattoos on his body. I feel for Sterling, I really do and I don’t even know him personally. I just see things in black and white. “It’s all personal, the English media have a problem with the boy. I only wish the best for everyone because no one gives you a leg up for nothing in this country. Sterling has become a professional football who has worked hard. Anyone who thinks footballers don’t work extremely hard is an idiot. I’ll be cheering him on in the World Cup. Not that I have any hopes for England this summer. My hopes have been drowned too many times. I will just hope for the best and say very little.” Well said, Tony. News Now - Sport News<doc-sep>
In recent times, Mr. Sterling, who plays for the Premier League champions, Manchester City, has featured in tabloid stories criticizing the hours he keeps, the cars he drives and the junk food he has been seen to consume. He has been criticized for buying his mother a house, for flying on a budget airline when he is paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a month and for chartering a private jet. Image Mr. Sterling has explained the tattoo by saying, “My father died from being gunned down to death. I made a promise to myself that I would never touch a gun in my lifetime.” Credit... Oli Scarff/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images “I’ve got that face,” he said in an interview with The Guardian newspaper last year. “You know when you see someone on TV and go, ‘I don’t like him?’ Some people have that face and I’ve got it. I can’t do anything about it. I’ve just got face: He looks like a brat. The ‘I don’t like face.’ That’s how I see it. And I’m not a brat. Sometimes I’m watching a movie and you see a character and go, ‘I don’t like him’ — that’s me.” He has explained the image by saying in a statement that “when I was 2, my father died from being gunned down to death. I made a promise to myself that I would never touch a gun in my lifetime.” That episode happened when he was growing up in Jamaica before moving to North London. And, he has pointed out, the tattoo is on the same right leg as he uses to kick the ball into the goal with such deftness and regularity as to make him an important part of the England squad. “I shoot with my right foot so it has a deeper meanings,” he said. But, of course, the latest controversy resonates much further at a time when the United States is seized with controversy over ownership of versions of the weapon Mr. Sterling displays on his leg.