England have Raheem Sterling to thank for their trip to Rome on Saturday for their Euro quarter-final against Ukraine, and they are now favourites to go on and reach a European Championship final for the first time. The Manchester City star is already playing in his fourth major tournament but his talent, until now, had not been fully appreciated by the England support.

A precocious young player when England crashed out at the group stage of the 2014 World Cup, Sterling was one of the fall guys two years later as Roy Hodgson’s side exited Euro 2016 in embarrassing fashion against Iceland.