Raheem Sterling paid tribute to his late friend Steffie Gregg after he scored in England’s 4-0 win in Hungary on Thursday.
The Manchester City forward broke the deadlock in Budapest after 55 minutes of the World Cup qualifier when he tapped home from Mason Mount’s cross.
Sterling took off his shirt to celebrate and unveiled a message which read ‘Love you forever Steffie Gregg’ before he was roundly booed and pelted with drinks.
Gregg was a social media influencer with more than 38,000 followers on Instagram who was based in Jamaica and a regular user of the American streaming service Twitch.
She was the daughter of former race car driver Gary Gregg while her brother Kyle ‘Speedy’ Gregg also takes part in the sport and it was uncle Rvssian, a Jamaican record producer, who announced the news of her death this week.
He wrote on Instagram: “I feel helpless. My little Steffie @svg876_ I feel I failed you and couldn’t protect you from this.. Covid is REAL, You don’t know until it hits home.”
Several prominent Jamaicans have paid tribute to Gregg, who back in May 2018 posted a picture on Instagram of her at the Etihad Stadium wearing a ‘Sterling 7’ shirt.
Following his goal against Hungary, Sterling tweeted a picture of his shirt in memory of Gregg with the caption: “This one was for you SVG.”
