RAHEEM STERLING savoured his Wembley winner as England got off and running in Group D with a deserved victory over Croatia.

The Manchester City forward scored the only goal of the game in London to ensure Gareth Southgate's side made the most of their home advantage in their trickiest tie of the section.

Sterling's place in the team had come in for question following a mixed campaign with City but he would cap a fine performance with a clinical finish just before the hour mark.

And the goal was a moment to cherish

Sterling said: "It feels good to score. I always said if I played at Wembley at a major tournament I had to score and it's great to finally do that.

"There's a lot of different reasons why I haven't scored for my club and it's totally irrelevant now. I'm here with England and I'm enjoying my football. That's the most important thing.

"It's great to get off to a win and now we have other games to look forward to. It's been a long season for me but I couldn't wait to get here and get started with England. With England, I knew it would be a positive one.

"It's a great feeling. It was the first game and we needed a win. We stuck together.

"We headed the ball when we needed to, cleared it when we needed to and played some good football at times. I thought the boys were brilliant.

"To be honest, I always said to myself if I come here, growing up two minutes down the road, I know I have to score here. It was a great feeling to actually do it.

"We need to try to build on it and enjoy today. We have to focus. It's early days. We need to keep winning, have that winning mentality and keep going forward."