The Berlin form book looks good for England ahead of final
England will play just their second competitive fixture at Berlin’s Olympiastadion when they meet Spain on Sunday with Euro 2024 glory at stake.
Five of the team’s previous visits to the venue and its predecessor on the same site, the Deutsches Stadion, have been for friendly encounters, but this time, the stakes could hardly be higher.
We take a look at England’s record in Berlin.
May 10, 1930 (friendly): Germany 3 England 3
England needed a late equaliser from David Jack to claim a draw at the Deutsches Stadion despite Joe Bradford’s first-half double. Richard Hofmann had levelled twice before completing his hat-trick to give the hosts a 3-2 lead, but Jack ensured the spoils were shared.
May 14, 1938 (friendly): Germany 3 England 6
Playing at the Olympiastadion, which had been rebuilt for the 1936 summer Olympic Games, in front of Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess and Joseph Goebbels, but not Adolf Hitler, the England players had been controversially ordered by the Foreign Office to give the Nazi salute before kick-off in an effort to further Anglo-German relations. On the pitch, the visitors stormed to victory courtesy of a double from Jackie Robinson and goals from Cliff Bastin, Frank Broome, Len Goulden and a fine solo effort from the great Stanley Matthews with Rudi Gellesch, Jupp Gauchel and Hans Pesser replying for the Germans.
May 26, 1956 (friendly): West Germany 1 England 3
A 19-year-old Duncan Edwards got his side, captained by Billy Wright, off to the perfect start against the reigning world champions with a first-half opener. Further goals from Colin Grainger and Johnny Haynes secured victory for England over a German team featuring five of the men who had started the 1954 World Cup final victory over Hungary in Bern with one of them, Friedrich Walter, claiming a late consolation strike.
May 13, 1972 (European Championship qualifier quarter-final, second leg): West Germany 0 England 0
Trailing 3-1 from the first leg at Wembley, England failed to overturn the deficit.
needed something special in Berlin. In the event, they did not get it as a German team marshalled superbly by Franz Beckenbauer held out amid a physical assault later described by manager Helmut Schoen as “brutal” in torrential rain to deny World Cup winners Gordon Banks, Bobby Moore, Alan Ball and Martin Peters a trip to the tournament, where their conquerors would prevail.
November 19, 2008 (friendly): Germany 1 England 2
John Terry was England’s hero as Fabio Capello’s men clinched a deserved friendly victory at the Olympiastadion. Terry’s central defensive partner Matthew Upson had poked the visitors into a first-half lead, but a mix-up between the Chelsea player and keeper Scott Carson had allowed Patrick Helmes to level before he made amends with a late header from Stewart Downing’s free-kick.
March 26, 2016 (friendly): Germany 2 England 3
Eric Dier hit the winner as the visitors came from behind to win over the 2014 World Cup winners. Goals from Toni Kroos and Mario Gomez had put the Germans in the driving seat, before Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy struck.
