The Three Lions face Spain in the tournament's climax at Olympiastadion in Berlin, aiming to land only the second major silverware in its history, 58 years after the FIFA World Cup triumph of 1966 on home soil.

Runners-up to Italy at the delayed UEFA Euro 2020, England is only the fourth different nation to appear in successive European championships, along with Spain, Germany and the former Soviet Union.

Southgate, who has led his nation to its first major men's tournament final on foreign soil, has also guided it to the 2018 semi-finals and 2022 quarter-finals at the two FIFA World Cups he has overseen.

The England head coach acknowledges all that is missing is a trophy.

"We tried to change the mindset from the start," he said during his pre-match press conference. "We tried to be more honest about where we were as a football nation.

"I've travelled to World Cups, European championships watching as an observer and watched highlight reels of matches on the big screens, and we weren't in any of them.

"We needed to change that. We had high expectations, but they didn't match where we were performance-wise. Now, the high expectations are still there, but we've had consistent performances, certainly over three of the last four tournaments and a quarter-final in the fourth.

"In the end, you have to be in the latter stages of tournaments to learn how to win the big games. A lot of records we have broken, but we know we have to do this one, to get this trophy to really feel the respect of the footballing world."

England endured an underwhelming start in Germany, topping Group C despite winning just one of its three games and scoring just two goals.

Jude Bellingham's stoppage-time strike and Harry Kane's extra-time header rescued it in its Round of 16 tie against Slovakia, while a penalty shootout was required to see off Switzerland in the quarter-finals.

Southgate switched from a 4-2-3-1 formation to a 3-4-3 in the latter contest, and stuck with that in the semi-finals, where England produced its best performance of the tournament as it saw off Netherlands 2-1 thanks to Ollie Watkins's last-gasp winner.

"We've had to find a different way of playing as the tournament progressed," Southgate added. 

"We've been trying to find the right blend and balance for our attacking players because we've got super talent, but a lot who like to operate in similar areas.

"We feel we've started to find that balance. We've looked dangerous, like we could score goals again, and I'm happy with where the team were at going into this game."