England will take on Croatia in Moscow on Wednesday. On Sunday, Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalic told journalists that Sterling was a "very fast footballer," and that the game would be "tough."

"I'm not surprised that Croatia have identified Raheem [Sterling] as a key player... If you look at all of our attacking patterns... he's been instrumental in that... He is a player that really is appreciated by the team... He was a huge threat in the game against Sweden throughout," Southgate told journalists.

England beat Sweden 2-0 on Saturday to reach the World Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1990 and Southgate said he hoped that his players would show a "good level of performance" in the Croatia encounter.

"There is consistency leading into matches like this, you don't have to change things, you don't have to do things differently. I don't think you have to find another level... If you can play at your regular level, very often it is more than enough... We've hit a good level of performance, and that's what we need to focus on again tomorrow," Southgate added.