Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane scored in the final 15 minutes to earn Gareth Southgate’s men a last-eight berth.
England struck two second-half goals to secure a famous victory against Germany in the UEFA EURO 2020 round of 16 at Wembley Stadium.
Match in brief
England matched Germany’s 3-5-2 formation and the sides cancelled each other out for much of the first half. The Three Lions had the first efforts of note with Raheem Sterling testing Manuel Neuer from distance and Harry Maguire heading Kieran Trippier’s cross wide. The Mannschaft prised the best opening of the first 45 minutes, though, only for Jordan Pickford to thwart Timo Werner.
The England No1’s agility came to the fore with a fine tip over from Kai Havertz after the break and Gareth Southgate’s team took advantage with 15 minutes to play, Sterling slotting in emphatically after Harry Kane and Jack Grealish had worked Luke Shaw into a crossing position down the left.
Thomas Müller dragged his effort wide when one on one against Pickford, and that miss was magnified when Kane stooped to head home Grealish’s cross and condemn Joachim Löw to defeat in his final game at the Germany helm.
Star of the Match: Harry Maguire (England)
“He kept the balance of the team in defense and showed great leadership on the pitch.”
Aitor Karanka, UEFA Technical Observer
Simon Hart, England reporter
Southgate’s ghostbusters do it again with this long-awaited tournament knockout win over Germany. Maguire, that symbol of England’s solidity, took the Star of the Match prize, but there were key contributions across the field – from the brilliant Pickford keeping a fourth straight clean sheet, to Sterling breaking the deadlock with his third goal of the tournament. A word too for super sub Grealish, whose ball helped Kane get his first EURO goal. It might not be coming home just yet, but England will head to their Rome quarter-final with a spring in their step.
Phil Röber, Germany reporter
Löw’s 15-year tenure ends with a thriller at Wembley. His side will be massively disappointed going out like this. England scored their first when it looked like Germany had a small edge but, on the whole, Die Mannschaft just weren’t able to make the most of their attacking potential at this tournament. The lack of efficiency up front is a severe problem that new coach Hansi Flick will have to tackle.
Reaction
Raheem Sterling, England forward: “We knew we needed to put a big performance in against a very good side and I think we did that today. We knew the intensity that we can play at, not a lot of teams can deal with it. The two boys in midfield [Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips] were class – they ate up ground and were just animals in there.”
Declan Rice, England midfielder: “It’s incredible. A lot of people had written us off in the group stage, complaints about the performances, not scoring enough, but we wanted to prove people wrong. Everyone had the fire in the belly to knock Germany out and progress in the tournament.”
Manuel Neuer, Germany goalkeeper: “We had a huge chance today to get past a strong team. We failed to take this chance and are massively disappointed. It was difficult for our attackers to make something work with the long balls we sent forward. Our diagonal passes didn’t work out as well, so we couldn’t hurt England as much as we wanted to.”
Joachim Löw, Germany coach: “This is a huge disappointment for us all. We hoped to achieve a lot more at this tournament and the belief in this team was high. In matches like this, it is imperative to use the few chances that you get. Timo Werner and Thomas Müller unfortunately couldn’t score from their chances, so it feels pretty bad that we are out.”
Key stats
- This was the first EURO knockout match England have won without the aid of a penalty shoot-out since their third-place play-off victory over the Soviet Union in 1968.
- England have never lost in the finals of a major tournament at Wembley Stadium (W10 D4).
- The Three Lions have lost only one of their last 15 EURO final tournament matches, ignoring penalties (W8 D6).
- Southgate’s side are still to concede at these finals after four matches.
- Sterling has scored 15 goals in his last 20 international outings for England.
- England have won all 13 games in which Sterling has scored.
- Germany have won just one of their last six EURO final tournament matches.
- The Mannschaft failed to score for only the third time in 30 fixtures.
- Löw’s side have kept just three clean sheets in their last 18 games.
Line-ups
England: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire; Trippier, Rice (Henderson 88), Phillips, Shaw; Saka (Grealish 69), Kane, Sterling
Germany: Neuer; Ginter (Can 87), Hummels, Rüdiger; Kimmich, Goretzka, Kroos, Gosens (Sané 88); Müller (Musiala 90), Havertz, Werner (Gnabry 68)
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