France brings Iceland down to earth by a 5-2 win, plays Germany in mouth-watering semi-final

After stuttering through the first four games of Euro 2016, France exploded into life with a 5-2 victory over Iceland in the quarter-finals. Is it all coming together at the right time for the hosts?

As France laboured through the early stages of Euro 2016, it was tempting to wonder whether the bookmakers had misjudged the tournament favourites. Didier Deschamps’ men needed late goals against Romania and Albania and they diced with disaster in the face of the Republic of Ireland, but against Iceland, finally, it came together.

France became the first team in European Championship history to hold a four-goal half-time lead as strikes from Olivier Giroud, Paul Pogba, Dimitri Payet and Antoine Griezmann blew England’s unlikely conquerors apart to set up a mouth-watering semi-final against Germany.