Or when he was one of several England players targeted by monkey chants in Montenegro and Bulgaria in 2019, when he scored in 5-1 and 6-0 wins.
Sterling was also at the forefront of football supporting Black Lives Matter following the killing of George Floyd and received an MBE last month in recognition of his work promoting racial equality.
But there was weariness when he discussed his activism in an interview with ITV last week, one that is entirely understandable when a minority of fans boo him and his England colleagues for taking the knee before kick-off – their peaceful, dignified protest against racial injustice.
It feels even more understandable when UK government ministers who gave licence to those booing and dismissed kneeling as a gesture are now firing out #ItsComingHome tweets at every opportunity, wearing England shirts or standing on a massive flag.
It s not something I m killing myself to do anymore, I m not going to be on the frontline speaking about it. We re adults enough now to understand these things. I just feel, when it comes to racial abuse, it s not taken seriously, Sterling said.
Everything we have done in the past, without him would not have been possible
A line of attack for those dubious on Sterling s capabilities over recent years has been to suggest his status as an inspiring role model means shortcomings on the pitch are overlooked.
That specious logic falls down when you consider Pep Guardiola s ruthlessly unsentimental approach to constructing football teams.
Since inheriting Sterling in 2016, he has signed Leroy Sane, Nolito, Gabriel Jesus, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez and Ferran Torres – all players able to operate with some distinction and capped by their countries in wide attacking roles.
Until a poor run of form in the second half of last season, Sterling saw them all off – becoming as close to an untouchable as Guardiola allows. He is one of only three players to have scored 100 goals under the Catalan s management. The others are Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero.
Guardiola does not pick Sterling because he is an incredible person, incredible human being , as he said in the wake of the Stamford Bridge abuse. In January this year, when Sterling s form was questioned in a news conference, he sharply retorted: Everything we have done in the past, without him would not have been possible.
When City won the Premier League title with 100 points and also lifted the EFL Cup in 2017-18, Sterling scored 23 goals and supplied 15 assists in all competitions. In 2018-19, when his brace in the FA Cup final helped to round off an unprecedented domestic treble, those numbers were up to 25 goals and 15 assists.
The 2019-20 season was Sterling s most prolific with 31 goals, although it ended with a horror miss in a Champions League quarter-final loss to Lyon. His conversion of opportunities Opta rank as big chances was down from 58.1 per cent in 2018-19 to 39.7.
Unreliable finishing remains an unwanted feature of Sterling s game and was once again the focus when goals dried up en route to a third Premier League title in four years last season.
Overall, 24 goal involvements (14 goals and 10 assists) represented his lowest since Guardiola s first season in 2016-17, but far from a disaster. For some, however, it seemed a 30-goal campaign should be the norm and Sterling was useless for falling away from three seasons of incredible consistency.
Just a tap-in merchant who d been found out. With the likes of Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka in his squad, why on earth would Southgate persist with Sterling?
Have I justified my place in the team?
It was easy to fear for the player with a tattoo of himself as a boy looking up at the Wembley arch, who appeared wretchedly out of form when recalled for City s Champions League final defeat to Chelsea. The moment he had spent a career and a lifetime anticipating was around the corner and he looked ill-equipped to grasp it.
Plus, England duty under the glare of the nation had previously not been too kind to Sterling. Across 12 games and 828 minutes in major tournaments heading into Euro 2020, he had no goals and one assist.
It s not been an easy road with the national team in the past. Some, I d say, unfair flack that I would get before touching a football sometimes, he told BBC Sport
As a young person it was difficult to deal with. In life and football you have to challenge yourself and take it for what it is. You can t be down on yourself, you have to push yourself even more.
That s what I ve kept doing and I think that s one of my best traits.
Sterling performed tirelessly for the cause as England reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup, but the paucity of his return in front of goal left him on the outside looking in when it came to the feelgood factor that enveloped the bulk of Southgate s squad.
We re back to the resilience again, because the forward produced the best season of his career in 2018-19 to be named Football Writers Association Player of the Year. He also enjoyed belated lift-off with the Three Lions.
Heading into an October 2018 Nations League showdown against Spain in Seville, he had two goals and nine assists in 45 caps. He netted two more in a thrilling 3-2 win. From cap 46 to his 67th versus Denmark he has scored 15 and laid on another seven – averaging a goal involvement every 87 minutes.
This is the version of Sterling that Southgate and England have enjoyed so much at Euro 2020, where he sealed 1-0 group stage wins over Croatia and the Czech Republic before breaking the deadlock against Germany to spark round-of-16 pandemonium in his neighbourhood.
It is perhaps a little sweeter that this purple patch for his country has come at a time when relations with Guardiola have come to appear strained. Another example of Sterling being damned with faint praise is his improvement at City being frequently cited – although, it should be said, never by the manager himself – as a triumph of coaching genius as much as his own endeavours.
He ended extra time against Denmark tearing through a shattered opposition defence to draw another save from Kasper Schmeichel. He was everywhere in a performance Gary Lineker hailed as one of the greatest displays I ve seen from a player in an England shirt .
Sterling has attempted (32) and completed (18) more dribbles than any other player at Euro 2020. He has never had more touches in the opposition box (38, 13.3 per cent of his overall touches) at any previous tournament. His expected goals (xG) and expected assists (xA) figures of 3.82 and 1.14 are also far in excess of past efforts and paint a picture of a player almost always involved when England create high-quality chances.
This is player-of-the-tournament form. By Sunday night, it might stand as the greatest ever showing in this setting by an Englishman.
But if it all goes wrong, a sitter is missed and the insults fly again – he s a diver now, you see, as well as a tap-in merchant – the seven years since that first tangle with Italy tell us Sterling will bounce back with all the fearlessness, brilliance and resilience we should have long since learned to cherish.
