PEP GUARDIOLA said Raheem Sterling needs occasions like this if he is to ‘grow’ as a player.
In that case, the England youngster might be happy staying at 5ft 7in for a while.
Sterling, 22, would probably be happy if he never had to return to his old stamping ground again.
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The Kop have long memories and made their feelings known every time he touched the ball.
It is hard to imagine there are many worse ways to spend New Year’s Eve for this Londoner.
To be fair, this was probably his best performance against his old club since leaving in a £49million deal 18 months ago.
But that is not saying much.
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Sterling endured two nightmare games against Liverpool last term.
City never recovered from conceding three early goals at the Etihad in November 2015.
In March it was even worse as he was hooked at half-time by Manuel Pellegrini with the home side coasting at 2-0.
He had been taunted so mercilessly for 45 minutes that his old boss probably felt sorry for him.
So at least Sterling would have known what was coming.
And sure enough the Kop did not disappoint. Just 25 seconds had passed when he touched the ball for the first time — and the boos were deafening.
Often they welcome back their heroes here with open arms — but not Sterling.
The fact he left before he had even reached 21 — clearly convinced he had more chance of winning silverware along the M62 — still rankles.
The way he was portrayed as trying to engineer a move did not help either.
Liverpudlians are convinced his decision was motivated purely by money — ‘one greedy b*****d’ is the chant they wheel out for him.
He actually started quite brightly, enjoying an entertaining battle with former England team-mate James Milner early on.
But it all fizzled out after the Reds took the lead.
When he sliced a cross high over Simon Mignolet’s goal, it was cheered almost as loudly as Gigi Wijnaldum’s opener.
Then he let his frustration boil over when the linesman failed to award a corner.
Needless to say his words were drowned out by the catcalls.
And there was no sympathy either from Milner, with the pair squaring up after Sterling had won his team a goal-kick.
Guardiola said on Friday he had been ‘delighted’ with Sterling’s form, pointing to his contributions against Arsenal and Hull recently.
Yet, privately, the Spaniard believes the England youngster can do much more.
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