Kathy Burke thanks Raheem Sterling for scoring England winner ‘in celebration’ of her birthday

‘I really didn’t know he cared,’ Burke quipped

Kathy Burke has wittily thanked Raheem Sterling for scoring the winning England goal “in celebration” of her birthday.

On Sunday (13 June), Burke turned 57. The following morning, she thanked her fans for sending their best wishes to her on Twitter, and personally name-checked the footballer, who scored the goal in England’s first fixture of the Euro 2021 tournament, against Croatia.

“Thanks so much for all the beautiful birthday messages yesterday,” she wrote, adding: “I’d especially like to thank Raheem Sterling for scoring a goal in celebration and the BBC for airing Paddington 2. I really didn’t know they cared.”

Unforgotten star Sanjeev Bhaskar replied: “I had a word. Well. I thought of having a word.”

Ahead of the match, comedian Josh Widdicombe ridiculed Laurence Fox for criticising the England players for taking a knee – the team were met with boos from their own fans when they took a knee during warm-up games against Romania and Austria.

The action of kneeling ahead of a sports event began in 2016 when NFL quarter-backColin Kaepernick did so in the US to protest racial inequality. The gesture has since found its way into football, following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Raheem Sterling celebrates with Kalvin Phillips during England’s first Euro 2020 match (Getty)

Fox, who suffered a spectacular loss in the recent London mayoral election, branded the footballers “millionaire woke babies” and claimed he was “embarrassed to be British”.

During an appearance on comedy show The Last Leg, Widdicombe said the only “positive” thing to come out of the backlash was “you are able to now identify all of the England fans who are complete t**ts”.