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It’s telling that with all that’s going on in Raheem Sterling’s life at the moment, the biggest story regarding the Liverpool youngster this week was not the rife speculation that Manchester City are planning a massive summer bid for his services.

His Reds manager Brendan Rodgers talked about the need to understand health issues and act professionally in the aftermath of pictures showing him apparently inhaling nitrous oxide and smoking a shisha pipe alongside teammate Jordon Ibe but insists that the matter is now closed.

Among all the furore, Sterling found time to score the opening goal in the 2-0 win over Newcastle United but revelations over his off-the-field activities were hardly the ideal preparation for an FA Cup semi-final.

Rodgers believes that in another 20 years, Sterling will look back on his actions and wonder what he was doing. But what seems to have irked him the most this week is any suggestion that because of their wealthy benefactors, Manchester City are somehow viewed as being a bigger club than Liverpool.

Never mind not coming close to the Reds’ 18 League Championships and five European Cups, City have still won fewer European Cups and League titles than Liverpool’s Wembley opponents on Sunday, Aston Villa.

Liverpool and Man United are the two biggest clubs in the country - rest are fighting to be there

Rodgers said: “I wouldn’t say that this was a development ground for going to bigger clubs. If you say that Manchester City is a bigger club than Liverpool, you’re wrong.

“At this moment in time, Manchester City are on a great project. They’re a wonderful club, I’ve seen it for myself a few years ago when I spoke with them.

“I’ve got big respect for what they’re doing there. They’re trying to build it the right way and hopefully they’ll get young players through at this Sport City, all of that.

“But at this moment in time, you can’t compare as a club the size of the two.

“You’ve got Liverpool and Manchester United, the two biggest clubs in this country, and the rest of them are fighting to be there over the next 20 years.”

No comparison between Raheem Sterling situation and Scott Sinclair's at Swansea

The semi-final pits Rodgers against Scott Sinclair, who is on loan at Villa from Manchester City, but the Ulsterman refuses to see comparison between the pitfalls of his former Swansea star’s move from the Liberty Stadium to the Etihad with whatever the future holds for Sterling.

Sinclair netted 27 goals for Rodgers’s Swans side as they clinched promotion to the Premier League for the first time in 2011 – including a hat-trick at Wembley against Reading in the Play-Off final – but has seen his career stagnate since his high-profile switch to City.

Rodgers said: “It’s totally different. Raheem Sterling was at one of the biggest clubs in the world at 17. Scotty was at Plymouth at 17.

“Raheem was playing in the team at 17 at Liverpool Football Club. He’s got to a hundred appearances quicker than Lionel Messi or Ronaldo, so it’s not a comparison.

“It’s all about the football development of the young player. He’s developing really, really well here.

“But the competition for players both here and abroad, the market is very small in terms of quality.

“I said last year about him being one of the best young players in Europe, if not the best, just out of how well he was doing.

“But, actually, if you analyse that, there are not many young players playing.

“He’s just turned 20 and the next one to come here will be Jordon Ibe.”

No Anfield boss since Shankly arrived has gone three seasons without a trophy

When it comes to the old trophy count, Manchester City are going to end up empty-handed this season but Rodgers is still closing in on his first piece of silverware with the Reds.

Since Bill Shankly reinvigorated the club over half a century ago, no Anfield boss has gone three seasons without lifting a trophy.

Rodgers said: “It’s important for the club and it’s important for us and what we’re trying to achieve.

“In terms of the vision of what we’re trying to do here is win trophies.

“We’ve made steps on that. For me the objective in the first couple of years was Champions League.

“If you look at how we did in the cups, we weren’t so good. I didn’t have the squad to challenge, I felt.

“This year we’d arrived into the Champions League and could focus on winning a trophy.

“We got to one semi-final already [in the Capital One Cup] and came up short against the eventual winners but now we’ve got another chance.

“It will be important for us, of course. We just have to concentrate on performance levels and get to the final and we’ll take it from there.”

I still don't think semi-final should be at Wembley

When Rodgers first took a side to Wembley in 2011 with Swansea for the Championship Play-Off final, he planned out all possible eventualities with his players in meticulous fashion but although he’s not taking the occasion lightly, he realises he won’t need the same kind of attention to detail with a Reds squad packed with international stars.

He said: “It was interesting because for that final we mapped out the whole day – from travelling to the hotel, what it would look like, what the feelings would be like, what we’d feel in the morning, how we would feel of the morning of the game, how would we get on the coach, how would we get off the coach and walk on to the pitch, how we would stand in the tunnel before the game.

“We just mapped out the whole day so that it felt like when they were there, it felt like they had been there before.

“We talked about the game. If we had gone up in the game, if we had gone down in the game. How we would celebrate if we won.”

Rodgers added: “No, I’ve not done it with this group. You have a lot of players that know Wembley.

“For us as well, every game is a big game here at Liverpool, we’ve had lots of big games.

“I still don’t think it should be at Wembley. I went to the Manchester City v Chelsea semi-final a couple of years ago.

“It was a great day and Manchester City went through and you felt ‘how do you better this?’

“In terms of the day for the supporters, everyone being there and the emotion.

“Then they get to the final and…obviously it did do for Wigan.

“It’s going to be a great game and we’re looking forward to it.”