At the Stade de France in Paris, an Icelandic saga of heroic battles finally came to an end when Euro 2016 hosts France pummeled the team that has won every football lover’s heart in this tournament, hammering them 5-2 in a game that became pretty much predictable in only the first half.
At the mid-match interval, France was clearly the dominating force, having scored four goals to nil, thanks to Oliver Giroud, Paul Pogba, Dimitri Payer and Antoine Griezman.
The Icelanders struck back twice in the second half, with goals from Kolbienn Sigthorsson and Birkir Bjarnason, but the French proved too good for them, outshining them on the field. In the end, a second strike from Giroud settled the game at 5-2.
Iceland have never beaten France in their 11 previous encounters, but the way the island nation has been fighting brilliantly in the past two years to make it to this tournament, and their performance throughout it, gave fans hope against hope that they might slay giants. The consolation for now, will be that Iceland made it to the last eight – a commendable feat in itself.