England will play Sweden or Ukraine in the quarter-finals of the European Championships after Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane struck in the last 15 minutes to beat Germany 2-0 at Wembley.
Sterling converted Luke Shaw’s low cross from the left in the 76th minute to grab his third goal of the tournament, adding to the two he scored in the group stages against Croatia and the Czech Republic.
The Manchester City forward then very nearly became the villain just moments later when he was robbed off possession in the middle of the park but Thomas Muller squandered a simple one-on-one to spare Sterling his blushes.
But the result was put beyond doubt just four minutes from time when captain Harry Kane headed home from close-range after a pinpoint cross from substitute Jack Grealish.
Sterling’s winner came after a cagey first half from England, in which Gareth Southgate’s side looked overawed at points by the magnitude of the occasion.
It was Joachim Low’s men that started the brightest and they came closest through Timo Werner, who spurned a one-on-one against Jordan Pickford after being put through on goal by Chelsea team-mate Kai Havertz.
Southgate decided to match Germany’s 3-4-3 system by deploying Luke Shaw and Kieran Trippier at wing-back, with Harry Maguire and Kyle Walker either side of John Stones in the centre.
That left the Three Lions’ front three of Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling feeling isolated and it was Kane in particular that was suffering from the lack of support.
But the mood of the game changed with the introduction of Grealish with 25 minutes to go and the Aston Villa playmaker was created space for Shaw to overlap on the left with his tendency to cut inside.
That was how the opener came when Shaw was fed in down the left and he needed only to make sure his cross was on point for Sterling to tap home inside the six-yard box.
Low has already confirmed his intention to step down as Germany boss after the tournament and he may look back at the missed opportunity from Muller after Sterling’s opener as a moment of ‘what could have been’.
But Kane ensured there was no need for a nervy finish as we’ve seen in the past 24 hours in the tournament as the Spurs captain got his first goal of the tournament when he nodded home Grealish’s cross.
Ukraine or Sweden await England in the last-eight, with the Three Lions set to play away from Wembley for the first time at Euro2020 as the quarter-final will be played in Rome.
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