Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers insists he never fell out with Raheem Sterling at Liverpool.

Sterling's Manchester City meet Celtic in the Champions League this week.

"I never had issues with Raheem," Rodgers told the Mail on Sunday. "Yes, there was that moment where we made a point to him early on, but that was it really. He had a personality but he could accept that and hopefully if you speak to him he would say we had a really close relationship.

"A lot of things that were being said when he left were naughty really. There were people trying to create the move, things being instigated that were not right and the final straw was that he had fallen out with the manager.

"That was never the case. The kid had been round at my house having a meal or playing with his daughter and my family, you know?

"He is a good boy, a really coachable boy and a wonderful young man. People don't realise that. This kid gets a lot of stick when he travels round the country but he's one of the nicest you'll ever come across. It got difficult for him towards the end at Liverpool but I'm so happy for him that he's now back playing really well."