Antoine Griezmann, Giroud’s partner up front for France, also beat Neuer when Atletico Madrid eliminated Bayern in the Champions League and the German has nothing but respect for Euro 2016’s leading goalscorer, who has four goals in the tournament so far.
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Get 10/1 enhanced odds on Germany to win Euro 2016. Griezmann kissed Dimitri Payet’s boot when the latter struck France’s third, and Payet returned the favour after Griezmann’s dink.
French coach Didier Deschamps may have been anxious however by the way Kolbeinn Sigthorsson and Birkir Bjarnason exposed France’s defensive frailties with two second-half goals. They had a scare against Italy in the quarter-final but other than that, they’ve been in control of all the games they’ve played. “It rarely happens – if it did happened before – to unite us, Iceland like how you did on the football field”, said Prime Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson to the squad while receiving huge cheers from the crowd. “They were a very valiant and determined side who kept on going until the end”. “I’m sure all the players want to experience this again”, said the Swansea City playmaker.
“I’m very proud of what this France side is achieving and I hope we’ll come out once again with the right result”.
The imposing Stade Velodrome in Marseille will play host to a mouth-watering semi-final on Thursday after the hosts impressively overcame neutrals’ favourites Iceland.
“It is going to be very tough, but we are going to go all in and give it all we have to qualify (for the World Cup)”.
Iceland’s Euro 2016 stars were given a heroes’ welcome after they touched down in Reykjavik. They scored two goals in their fightback process which speaks volume about their performance. “I think the fans, how appreciative they are to the players, and what is also fantastic is that the players showed their appreciation to the fans”, he joked.
Iceland failed to use their brains in Sunday’s 5-2 defeat to France at Euro 2016, joint coach Lars Lagerback said, though he spoke with pride of the team’s achievements in getting to the quarterfinals in their first tournament appearance.
The Swede’s time with Iceland in France was his seventh major finals, having led his native Sweden to five and Nigeria at the 2010 World Cup. We are used to making bad starts to matches and we changed that.
But France replied with Giroud beating Halldorsson to a Payet free-kick immediately before the Arsenal striker was withdrawn.
Iceland, who fought back in style against England after conceding an early opener, could not replicate that response and fell further behind on 20 minutes.
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“Now we have gotten a taste of being at the big stage, we love it and we belong here”, said Halldorsson.
