What was heavily pitted as a close encounter between the two sides on a drizzly night in Northern Paris owing to the remarkable adventures of the island nation in the build up to the Euros, not to forget that this was the team which edged past Netherlands in the qualifiers to compete in one of the most coveted events in European Soccer.
But things did not end there, in the lead up to the quarters, they were in sublime form finishing unbeaten in the group stages enroute to rampaging past England in the round of 16 to cause one of the most humiliating defeats in footballing history. However, they were at the receiving end this time when they were routed by the hosts in what seemed to be a one-sided encounter all along.
The match was effectively over at the end of the first half as the Les Bleus managed to find the back of the net on four occasions with the half time score line reading 4-0. The long night for the visitors began in the 12th minute when Giroud ran clear to collect Blaise Matuidi's pass before shooting through the legs of Hannes Halldórsson to kickstart a massacre at the Stade de France. Things began to look bleak when Paul Pogba headed home a corner from Griezmann in the 19th minute much to the despair of the island nation and its fans who had turned up with a lot of expectations following their sensational run of late.
After a brief lean patch, the Frenchmen were back with a flurry of goals just before halftime to send the visitor's hopes of progressing further in the competition crashing. At the 42nd minute, Payet teed off an angled shot that beat a diving Halldórsson before Griezmann sent a delicate chip over the keeper to make it 4-0 going into half-time.
In the second half, Giroud managed to score his second of the night although Iceland managed to net a couple courtesy of goals from Kolbeinn Sigthórsson and Birkir Bjarnason to end the game at 5-2. At the end of a rather miserable night for them, the game was not won but respect sure was!
Following this win, France go on to face the World Champions Germany in the semifinals in what is expected to be a nail biting encounter.
