Gary Lineker confirms 27 million watched BBC coverage of England vs Germany

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Host Gary Lineker has confirmed that the BBC’s coverage of England’s momentous Euro 2020 last 16 victory over Germany on Tuesday evening attracted over 27 million viewers across the broadcaster’s platforms.

The two old rivals faced off against each other at Wembley, with the Three Lions looking to put past demons to rest, with Die Mannschaft had tasting success against them in three consecutive knockout matches at major tournaments since the 1966 World Cup final.

The first came in the 1990 World Cup in Italy, as the Germans beat England 5-4 on penalties to reach the final. The second took place at Euro ’96 as Gareth Southgate missed the crucial spot kick, allowing Germany to progress to the final with a 6-5 penalty shootout win. And most recently, Joachim Low’s side knocked the Three Lions out of the 2010 World Cup at the round of 16 stage with a 4-1 victory.

The tie, therefore, was huge for several reasons and, indeed pulled in a record-breaking viewing audience. Via his Twitter account, Lineker confirmed that 6.5 million people tuned in via BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website (5.6 million of those were on iPlayer – a new viewing record).

The Match of the Day host also revealed that those figures, added on top of the BBC’s TV audience meant that there were more than a whopping 27 million viewers tuned in.

Thankfully, those viewers were not disappointed – the English ones, anyway. Southgate’s men ended their 55-year long wait for a knockout game victory over Die Mannschaft courtesy of a 2-0 win.

Raheem Sterling opened the scoring with 15 minutes left on the clock, before Harry Kane notched his first goal of Euro 2020 by heading in Jack Grealish’s cross in the 86th minute.

Harry KaneHarry Kane

Harry Kane bagged the second goal in England’s 2-0 win over Germany / Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images

The historic win puts England in the last eight of this summer’s European Championship, where they will come up against Andriy Shevchenko’s Ukraine in Rome.