The Football Association jumped to the defence of Raheem Sterling on Tuesday after the Manchester City and England forward faced a backlash over his decision to have an assault rifle tattooed on his leg.

Anti-gun campaigners reacted furiously after Sterling posted a picture on social media on Monday of him training with England at St George’s Park and sporting a tattoo of an M16 on his right leg.

The Sun ran the image on its front page yesterday, with the headline “Raheem shoots himself in the foot”, and calls from activists for the 23-year-old to be dropped from Gareth Southgate’s squad for the World Cup in Russia next month.