England takes on Spain with history on the line in Berlin. Win, and the Three Lions will end a 58-year wait for a second piece of silverware. Spain, on the other hand, could become the first team to win the European championships on four separate occasions.

England lost to Italy on penalties in the final of UEFA Euro 2020 three years ago, and while it has stuttered through in Germany, Southgate wants to create a special moment in the final.

"I'm not a believer in fairytales, but I am a believer in dreams," he said.

"We've had big dreams and felt the importance of that, but you've got to make those things happen.

"Fate, the late goals we've had, the penalties, that doesn't equate to it being our moment. We've got to make it happen tomorrow.

"It's in our hands, and it's our performance which is the most important thing."

England has made it into the semi-finals of three of the four major men's tournaments under Southgate's leadership.

To get to its second final in three years, it finished top of Group C despite winning only one match, before coming from behind to beat Slovakia and Netherlands either side of overcoming Switzerland via a penalty shootout.

"We've got good experience of big matches now and I think at these moments you don't need to say too much to the players, they don't need motivating for a game like this – it's about making sure the small details are right as fine margins decide these games and we've got to make sure we're on the right side of them," Southgate added.

"We're excited for the challenge. Clearly the team have improved over the last few weeks, showed tremendous character and resilience – I have to say they have been a pleasure to work with every day on the training pitch.

"It's been a great environment to work in and now we have a fabulous opportunity tomorrow to achieve what we set out really from the moment we left Qatar a bit earlier than we'd have liked.

"I don't have any fear about tomorrow as I've been through everything.

"I want the players to have that fearlessness. If we're not afraid to lose it gives us a better chance of winning."

Southgate will be the third manager to take charge of more than one European championship final, excluding replays, after Helmut Schon with Germany (1972, 1976) and Berti Vogts with Germany (1992, 1996), with all three doing so in consecutive editions.

No coach has lost two finals in the competition before, and Southgate will be hoping he's not the first.

Win or lose, Southgate admitted he would find it "impossible to make a logical decision" on his England future before the final.

The manager's current contract runs out in December, with his uncertain future causing a lot of speculation.

"Emotionally, it would be impossible for me to make a logical decision at the moment on any of that because my sole focus for two years has been winning this tournament," Southgate said.

"The last five or six weeks have been an absolute rollercoaster, so I don't actually know where I am with anything other than being very focused on preparing the team for this game.

"I'm determined to keep leading them in the way I have over the last month.

"I definitely took the job to try and help English football improve. I know what it would mean, not only to the general public in England but particularly people involved in English football, from those that develop young players to those that run clubs, every level of the game, really.

"We've improved the credibility of English football in how it's perceived around the world but, ultimately, until you win that trophy then there will always be those questions both abroad and at home about what we've done."