"Raheem Sterling will play good -- I have confidence." That was Pep Guardiola's no-nonsense reply last July when asked about the forward shortly after seeing him in a match for the first time.
Manchester City had just beaten Borussia Dortmund on penalties in a friendly in the sweltering Chinese city of Shenzhen with second-half substitute Sterling looking like a man desperately short of confidence. Almost inevitably, he had missed his spot kick after looking fragile and unsure throughout following his return to the City squad on the back of a painful European Championship in which Sterling was singled out for criticism after England's embarrassing exit in the round of 16 to Iceland.