Millions of fans celebrate as England beats old enemy Germany

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Thousands of elated football fans hurled half-drunk beers into the air and embraced strangers in celebration as England secured a long-awaited victory over Germany tonight. 

Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane led the Three Lions to a 2-0 win in a tense clash at Wembley in the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament, with fans across England now daring to dream that victory may be in sight.

Waves of rapturous applause filled the stadium as Manchester City’s Sterling first slotted the ball home, breaking a 0-0 first-half deadlock. Kane swiftly followed up with a neat header – sending his thrilled teammates piling on their captain in celebration as chants of ‘it’s coming home’ filled the stadium. 

The elation spilled into fan zones across England – including in Manchester and Birmingham – with Britons proudly draping the St George’s flag over their shoulders when the squad’s first knockout tournament win against Germany in 55 years was secured. 

Crowds in Three Lions jerseys later emerged from pubs and tore through the streets of London, Leeds and Newcastle, with hundreds who gathered in Leicester Square spraying beers over onlookers and setting off colourful smoke bombs. 

There were similar scenes in Croydon, south London, where football fans embraced their friends and climbed on top of tables after Gareth Southgate’s men secured England a place in the Euro 2020 quarter finals.  

But as jubilant fans gathered to watch the nail-biting match, roads were left eerily deserted.  

There wasn’t a car in sight on Westminster Bridge, London, or the A14 near Cambridge as the match began at 5pm today – a time that would typically be a bustling rush hour for commuters heading home. 

An estimated 25 million fans tuned in to watch the Three Lions storm to a glorious victory on the pitch, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson who was photographed cheering at a TV set up in the Downing Street gardens.  

England are set to play either Sweden or Ukraine in the Euro 2020 quarter-final in Rome on Saturday – with the team fancying their chances against both foreign squads.

While the number of fans at Wembley tonight was still just over half of its normal 90,000 capacity, it marked the biggest crowd at an event seen since the pandemic began last year. 

Among the spectators were avid football fan Prince William, his wife Kate Middleton and their son Prince George, who sat in a box along with football legend David Beckham and pop star Ed Sheeran.

Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish took to Twitter to react after his team won. He wrote: ‘England 2-0 Germany! What a day. Fans were UNBELIEVABLE.’ 

Anthony Robinson, 34, who lives in London and works in finance, watched the match with his mother Sue Bedding, 59, at the fan zone in Trafalgar Square.

Ms Bedding, an NHS worker, said she had come down from her home city of Nottingham so she could watch the match with her son.

Mr Robinson said: ‘I feel ecstatic. You’ve got to be optimistic about things like this. In the first 15 to 20 minutes it didn’t look like anything was going to happen, but the second half was brilliant.

‘The atmosphere here was crazy. We’re definitely pleased we came here to watch it. We were going to go to a pub to watch it but just thought, if England win it, to be here to watch it in Trafalgar Square is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s the next best thing to going to Wembley.

‘The fact that we managed to win it in 90 minutes too and didn’t have to go to penalties is incredible.’

Ms Bedding said: ‘I’m made up, it’s been an absolutely brilliant night. I remember the ’96 match and I was completely gutted when we lost. So now I’m quite optimistic for the rest of the Euros.’ 

After the match, England boss Southgate revealed he had told the players after the game that he must be the ‘party-pooper’ 

‘It’s a brilliant afternoon,’ Southgate told BBC Sport. ‘We talked about bringing enjoyment to the nation really and afternoons like this are what that’s about.

‘The players were absolutely immense, right the way through the team and the fans were as well. Only 40,000, but it’s as good an atmosphere as I can remember at Wembley.

‘We played extremely well. I think we deserved the win, but I’ve had to say to them (the players) straight away, look, “I’m the party-pooper because if we don’t capitalise on that on Saturday now, then it doesn’t count for anything”.’

Southgate was full of praise for both his goalscorers Sterling and Kane. 

‘Raheem, well they both have to constantly, has to prove people wrong all the time and Raheem has been immense for us over three, four years,’ Southgate said told the BBC.

‘He knows we’ve got faith in him, we’ve got that trust in him and his performances have been electric, right from the start.

‘For Harry it was a really important moment I think. When you’re a centre-forward it doesn’t matter what else you’re doing in the game, you need those goals and I was pleased to see the second one go in I have to say.’

Southgate was asked if his side’s win helped ease the memory of his penalty shoot-out miss in the semi-finals of Euro 1996 against Germany.

The former England defender said: ‘I’m just so pleased. I was looking at the big screen and I saw David Seaman up there, the teammates that played with me, I can’t change that, so that’s always going to hurt.

‘But what’s lovely is we’ve given people another day to remember and now we’ve got to go and do it in Rome.’  

As jubilant fans celebrated – and thousands poured out onto the streets in Three Lions jerseys – bustling parties emerged in Leeds and Newcastle, with fans tearing through the cities cheering and spraying beers over each other. 

The match kicked off to a nail-biting start, with West Ham player Declan Rice handed a yellow card in the first ten minutes.

And, just seconds before the half time whistle was blown, England captain Kane had the ball robbed from him with the Germany goal wide open after a brilliant run by Sterling. 

The second half saw Germany step up their play, but they still proved no match for Gareth’s Southgate’s side – with a fantastic save by goalkeeper Jordan Pickford from Chelsea’s Kai Havertz.

The crowd erupted into thunderous cheers when fan-favourite Jack Grealish replaced Bukayo Saka in the 68th minute, in a moved hoped to spark England’s side into their first goal.

And the move proved a huge success. Kane came to life as he found Grealish who fed Luke Shaw on the left. His low ball into the box was slotted home by Sterling. 

Earlier, Neuer’s team joined England players in taking the knee before today’s fixture in a stand against racism.

The protest act has been mired in controversy throughout the tournament, with the FA fearing unhappy crowds would boo players. But any discontent from spectators was drowned out by loud cheering from both sides.

But the teams’ national anthems were a different story, with boos ringing out from the England-heavy crowd as Germany’s anthem played.

Both England captain Kane and his German counterpart Neuer are wearing rainbow armbands in support of Pride month during tonight’s showdown.  

While West Ham player Declan Rice given a yellow card in the first ten minutes, Sterling quickly raised England fans’ hopes with an early long-range shot that tested German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

Hopes soared even further as Germany’s Matthias Ginter was booked for bringing down Luke Shaw on the German right flank.

But as the match approached the 30 minute mark, Harry Maguire missed a straightforward header, sending pulses racing in the iconic stadium. And Pickford was forced to act quickly to stop an effort by Chelsea’s Timo Werner.