HAVING experienced the electric atmosphere created by a half-full Wembley as England beat Germany on Tuesday, Jordan Pickford is desperate to see off Ukraine on Saturday to set up a semi-final appearance in front of more than 60,000 fans next week.

The biggest attendance at a domestic sporting event for more than a year witnessed Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane score the second-half goals that took England through to the quarter-finals of Euro 2020, with the emotional outpouring at the final whistle making the hairs stand on end.

Gareth Southgate’s side have to leave Wembley for their last-eight encounter with Ukraine, with the game being staged in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, but if they come through Saturday night’s showdown, they will return to London for next Wednesday’s semi-final against either Denmark or the Czech Republic.

The Government have raised the attendance for the semi-finals and final to more than 60,000, meaning Wembley will be three-quarters full, and after being blown away by the fans’ reaction to Tuesday’s win, Pickford would love the chance to experience it all again next week.

“We’ve had the opportunity to play four games at Wembley, and the atmosphere against Germany was amazing,” said Wearsider, who has played every minute of England’s tournament so far. “I think that just gives a burning desire to perform on Saturday so we have an opportunity to come back to Wembley.

“It was a massive day. To have 45,000 back in the stadium, against a very tough side, and to get that win - you could just hear the atmosphere. It drove us on as a unit. It was an incredible feeling and that’s what we want more of. It was great to see my family and friends there being a part of the fans, it was incredible. We want more of that.”

England will give themselves every chance of reaching the last four if they continue to defend with the same organisation and resolve they have displayed in the opening four matches.

Pickford is the only goalkeeper at the tournament still to concede a goal, and when he was called upon to make a couple of key saves against Germany, he rose to the challenge, keeping out Timo Werner’s first-half strike before tipping Kai Havertz’s second-half drive over the crossbar.

In front of him, England’s defenders have performed superbly, but Pickford insists it has been a team effort that has resulted in Southgate’s side having the best defensive record of all the 24 teams who started out at the Euros.

“We talk about the defensive unit, with the back three against Germany, but it’s not just them,” he said. “It’s all 11, starting from Harry Kane, and the effort and desire to stop them settling in pressing areas was brilliant. In the last five minutes, Germany threw it all at us, but we were just resilient and kept going.”

The challenge now is to raise themselves again for Saturday’s meeting with a Ukraine side that scraped through to the last eight when Artem Dovbyk claimed a dramatic last-gasp winner against ten-man Sweden at Hampden Park.

Ukraine lost to the Netherlands and Austria in the group stage, but Pickford is adamant he and his team-mates will not be taking anything for granted.

“The first objective was to get through the group, which we did, and we knew Germany was going to be a massive game,” he said. “We came through that and played well, but now we move on to Saturday.

“We’ve got to enjoy the moment, but we’ve got to get prepared now and recovered well. We knew we were up against a top side, but every game in this competition is a good side so we’ve got to be on our A game and get prepared well for Saturday.”