England hero Raheem Sterling hailed the team's desire to rewrite history after beating Germany in a knockout game at a major tournament for the first time since 1966 on Tuesday to reach the Euro 2020 quarter-finals.

Sterling opened the scoring with his third goal of the tournament before Harry Kane silenced his critics to seal a 2-0 win four minutes from time.

"It sounds good," said Sterling on ending England's hoodoo against Germany. "We knew we needed to put in a big performance against a very good side and we did that today."

Sterling had not scored in a major tournament before the Euro, but has been his country's standout performer en route to the last eight.

"Doing it for your country is always special and it's definitely a special moment for me," he added.

"I celebrated (the goal) then for half a second I thought let it not be offside. I'm really happy it went in and we got the win."