Sterling maintained his recent habit of scoring in the closing moments – this time six minutes into injury time – as the Premier League leaders snatched a 2-1 victory over Southampton at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday.
It was the fourth time Sterling had pulled off such a feat this season after recent late clinchers against Feyenoord and Huddersfield as well as at Bournemouth earlier in the season.
In addition to that Everton, Watford, Shakhtar Donetsk and Napoli have also succumbed to him inside the last eight minutes of games while in total, Sterling has struck 13 goals this campaign.
His latest effort was arguably the pick of them, a curling shot from the edge of the area earning City a 12th straight league win and restoring an eight-point lead at the top of the table.
“The way he scored was just incredible, especially in the last seconds of the game,” said midfielder Gundogan.
“It is not easy to do that and he is playing an unbelievable season. He was definitely the main man out there and we are so happy to have him.
“I guess this why we play football, why everybody loves to watch football. We feel so happy after that second goal. It was a really good day for us.”
City’s overall winning run now stretches to a club-record 19 games with struggling West Ham the next opponents on Sunday.
But Southampton, like Huddersfield last weekend, at least found a way to make it tough for Pep Guardiola’s side by defending deep and limiting their threat to occasional counter-attacks and set-pieces.