England’s nail-biting run to the World Cup quarter-finals has earnt them an unlikely supporter – Germany legend and penalty-shootout nemesis Lothar Matthäus.

Matthäus, who helped trigger the spot-kick curse the Three Lions finally lifted on Tuesday night, revealed on Wednesday he was backing his own country’s greatest footballing rival to go all the way in Russia.

The man who captained West Germany to World Cup glory in 1990 after they inflicted England’s first defeat on penalties in an epic semi-final also said Harry Kane had made himself a candidate for Fifa’s world player of the year award and hailed John Stones as one of the best defenders in the game.

Matthäus​, who attended England’s victory over Colombia on Tuesday night, said: “Yesterday, I was supporting England because I like the style they’ve played these last two years and I became a little bit of a fan when they won the friendly against Germany in Berlin, 3-2 [in 2016].

“I started to get the feeling that this team could be dangerous in the next few tournaments.”