The City attacker admitted: “Brendan is someone who gave me my full chance in the Premier League, gave me loads of starts and a lot of confidence from that.
“He was massive for me. Every manager I worked with I tried to learn as much as I could from. He’s one I definitely did learn a lot off.
“Credit to him, he was a fantastic guy and it’ll be good to see him again and I wish him well.
“When he first moved from Liverpool, I spoke to him then. I spoke to him two or three times since that.
“But, on the day, it all comes down to trying to win that football match.”
Sterling added: “I’ve watched a few of their league games and the Champions League game. We know what they can do and that they’ve got players who can score goals.
“We’ve just got to be ready to fight to win the game.
“I played against Celtic once before in a pre-season game, but I don’t think it’ll be the same as what it’ll be like on Wednesday, which will obviously be a big night there.
“I can expect the fans to be roaring and, hopefully, we can get support up there, too.
“But it’s going to be a difficult game and we know we’ve just got to go away and prepare right for it.
“We can’t take it for granted we’ll win.
“Celtic score goals and any team at this level can punish you if you’re not careful.”
