England defeat Germany thanks to goals from Sterling and Kane

England beat Germany for the first time in a knockout round of a major tournament since 1966 as Sterling and Kane score at Wembley - Euro 2020

Photo credit: uefa.com

In scenes of enormous anxiety and ecstasy, England scored two late goals to end a 55-year wait for a knockout tie victory over Germany and advance to the Euro 2020 quarter-finals at Wembley.

England's most in-form player at the tournament, Raheem Sterling, made the key breakthrough as Gareth Southgate's team fought hard to secure the statement victory that has eluded them so frequently.

Sterling, who scored the game-winning goals against Croatia and the Czech Republic in the group stage, headed in Luke Shaw's cross after 75 minutes to send England's 40,000-plus fans into wild jubilation.

The victory was sealed four minutes from time when captain Harry Kane, who had struggled to have an impact on the game, headed in from substitute Jack Grealish's exquisite ball for his first goal of Euro 2020.

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was once again praised for his brilliance.

He is yet to concede a goal in the tournament and made important saves from Timo Werner and Kai Havertz in either half.

While Thomas Muller missed a great chance to equalise before Kane scored to put the game to bed.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England have beaten Germany for the first time in a knockout round of a major tournament since 1966 🎉#EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/G8HBoO9gHJ

— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 29, 2021

Man of the Match: Harry Maguire (England)

Leader 💪

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Harry Maguire = Star of the Match 🥇

🤔 Did you predict that?@Heineken | #EUROSOTM | #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/kmNMg5ur2b

— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 29, 2021

What the players and managers said

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."

England 2-0 Germany: Watch full match highlights