8 Footballers Who Proved Everybody Wrong

When England drastically, though undeniably hilariously, crashed out of Euro 2016 to the football giants of Iceland, population 360,000 with barely a grass surface in sight, the media needed a scapegoat. The unfashionable, rhotic Roy Hodgson was one, and he subsequently fell on his sword. Raheem Sterling - already unjustly vilified by the press for his apparently money-grubbing move to Manchester City - was the other.

To be fair, Sterling was less than silver in France, his lack of end product mirroring the struggles he'd endured in his first season at Eastlands - all whilst carrying the burden of being the most expensive English footballer of all time. The press had ammunition in the form of his form, but the extent to which the excesses - or economy, depending on their mood - of Sterling's personal life were scrutinised and demonised carried undeniable and uncomfortable undercurrents.

Though the idiom goes that footballers do their talking on the pitch, the young winger wasn't satisfied addressing an insidiously racist campaign against his character with stats alone. Under Pep Guardiola, Sterling's value has accrued exponentially - he's now one of the most prolific and dangerous players in the game - but it's off the field where he's really silenced the critics. After being the victim of overt racial abuse in a match against Chelsea, Sterling addressed the issue on Instagram, before dramatically and eloquently dissecting the prevalent, systemic racial bias in the British media which fuel such incidents. It was a stunning, undeniable rebuttal - which left many of his headline-spewing detractors exposed and ashamed.