John Stones remembers it as the day when England began to believe.
It was in the height of summer in the Euros 12 months ago when England beat their biggest football rival at Wembley. The Three Lions finally overcame Germany in a knockout tournament to reach the quarter-finals and, in beating a heavyweight nation, it convinced Stones and his teammates they were a force to be reckoned with.
Now, they face Germany again in the Allianz Arena hoping for another morale-boosting victory and performance which will set the mood just six months before the World Cup. Stones, 28, said: "I think it was probably the turning point in that tournament of feeling the belief that we could go on and try and win this.
"The atmosphere was, we were gaining fans every game, so that was a big game. A lot of history behind us playing Germany. For us to play against top-tier opposition, top-tier players, and play the way we did and it gave us that belief that we can compete with these teams, and with these players on a regular basis.
"In the past, I’ve had a feeling as a team it’s a difficult fixture, or it was a difficult fixture and I feel the mentality has changed almost in that we know that we are capable of winning this game. So there’s a big shift in mentality.
"The summer in general is one of the best moments in my career, definitely. What was it? Six weeks away from my family, it was difficult times, Covid was still involved. That and the World Cup are up there for me. I have some memories, obviously being at Wembley made it even more special."
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Manchester City defender Stones actually goes into the Nations League on the back of a rollercoaster finish to the season, winning the title but missing games in the run-in due to injury and also losing to Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals.
But Stones was in philosophical mood ahead of a huge game for England, insisting that he had no issue with the scheduling of the Nations League games because every cap should be regarded as special and be cherished.
In fact, Stones even admitted there was a time when he did not even believe he would reach 50 caps as he missed 10 England games between November 2019 and March 2021. He has now got 56 caps but was stuck on 39 during that long international absence.
Stones said: "I had a dream as a kid, playing for England, trying to get 50 caps for England and I have made that come true. I didn't think I would.
"I was 40 something at the time, I was not playing and I never thought I would get that opportunity again so for me, whatever games we have got I am always extremely proud to be called up for one and playing for England.
"I cannot remember how long I was out of the team but I was not playing at City and you have to be playing and playing well to be called up. I did not know if I would get called back up and I used that as a kind of motivation to get back in."
He is now ready for one last push for England after another title success with City. He added: "I enjoyed the season a lot. A lot of learning. I know I keep going on about learning but it’s the only way that I can reflect on me personally and how I can move forward.
"Difficult going out of the Champions League, which kind of paused things a lot within ourselves. The flight back after the game... we had been in a good position.
"We’ve not had many big set-backs like that or had to deal with many and again that showed our character and made our winning mentality even stronger to go and win the Premier League. We left it late, that’s all I can say!"
