Raheem Sterling has admitted that he feared that his goal in England’s 2-0 victory against Germany in the Euro 2020 eighth round would be ruled out for offside.
Sterling broke the deadlock at Wembley in the 75th minute and limited a fine personal performance. By clamping on Luke Shaw’s dangerous cross, he controlled his goal nicely to steer the ball past Manuel Neuer.
He reacted after scoring his third goal of the tournament and told the BBC: “Doing it for your country will always be special and it’s definitely a special moment for me.
“I celebrated and then for half a second I thought, ‘Let it not be offside. “But yes, really happy that it went in and really happy that we won.”
Sterling was also full of praise for his teammates, especially midfield pairing Kalvin Phillips and Declan Rice who grew into the game after a shaky start.
Sterling’s goal triggered wild scenes of celebration / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images
“We knew we needed to do a great job against a very good side and I thought we did it today,” he said.
“We knew the intensity they play on, but we are a team that can handle it and we continued. The two boys in midfield Declan and Phillips were in class. They ate up the ground and they were just animals in there. All-round, a good team performance . “
The victory over Germany means that England now face either Ukraine or Sweden in the quarterfinals. That game will take place at the Stadio Olimpico next Saturday, with the kick off scheduled for 8 p.m. Win it and they will face either the Czech Republic or Denmark in the semifinals.
Many have suggested that this is an easy way to the final for the Three Lions, but Sterling insisted that there was no complacency in the group.
“We take it game by game. We go away, recover and focus on the next,” he said.
