France bring a brutal end to the Iceland

France scored five to bring a brutal end to the Iceland fairytale and set up an intriguing Euro 2016 semi-final against world champions Germany in Marseille on Thursday.

The tournament hosts put England's conquerors to the sword at the Stade de France in Sunday's quarter-final with goals from Olivier Giroud, Paul Pogba, Dimitri Payet and Antoine Griezmann putting them 4-0 ahead in a sizzling first-half performance.

After a security alert near the stadium in the hours before kick-off, France's supporters arrived in Paris looking for improvement from a side that had laboured against Romania, Albania, Switzerland and Republic of Ireland in their previous matches.

France had not scored a first-half goal at Euro 2016 before this game, but became the first side in European Championships history to score four times before the break with Giroud's 12th-minute opener proving the catalyst for a simply stunning display.
Olivier Giroud's low strike and Paul Pogba's powerful header from a corner had settled early French nerves and put their side in control.

Dimitri Payet scored his third goal of an increasingly memorable tournament for the West Ham playmaker with a precise low strike from 20 yards that skidded across the greasy surface before Antoine Griezmann deftly lifted the ball over Iceland goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson.

After the restart Kolbeinn Sigthorsson stabbed home at the near post from Gylfi Sigurdsson's cross as Iceland refused to give in before France restored their four-goal advantage when Giroud headed in a free-kick.

Still, there was more to cheer for the excellent Iceland fans when Birkir Bjarnason headed a second for his side in the final stages of what has been a remarkable tournament debut for their team.
Antoine Griezmann's goal came after 14 passes - the third longest pass sequence before a goal at Euro 2016
Didier Deschamps' side had only conceded twice in the tournament before meeting Iceland - both penalties - but they had not scored in the opening half of a match and only really shown in flashes that they can reproduce on the pitch the ability they appear to have on paper.

That changed at a wet but atmospheric Stade de France on Sunday.

Griezmann had not scored in 648 minutes of football for France at this ground but he ended that with his composed, delicate finish.

In some ways the goal was everything that was best about France; a patient 14-pass move that ended with a moment of invention to open up the opposition. A raking ball forward was superbly dummied by Giroud, completely bamboozling the Iceland defence and giving Griezmann a clear run at goal.

The goal took Griezmann to four in the tournament and he is now the highest scorer at Euro 2016, with Payet and Giroud among several players one behind.

But even though France were very comfortable winners, it was far from a flawless performance.

Iceland created several decent chances - Jon Dadi Bodvarsson shot over from a good position in the first half and Hugo Lloris made a brilliant save to stop a Sverrir Ingason header after the restart - in addition to their two goals.

After defeating the Republic of Ireland and Iceland in the knockout stages, France will face a very different challenge against a German side with a lot more attacking capability.

Go to Livescore to see the score of the fastest game.