Thor blimey! The smallest ever nation to appear at a major tournament showed up the world’s biggest star.
It needed something special to upstage Cristiano Ronaldo on a night he equalled the record for Portugal caps.
But Birkir Bjarnason — nicknamed Thor for his long blonde hair — provided it with an equaliser to make it Iceland football’s greatest day.
Every player in the Iceland team had “son” at the end of their name — and they are their country’s favourite sons after this stunning performance.
They say that 10 per cent of the country has made it to France and they were having one hell of a party last night.
Make no mistake, everything before the game was about Ronaldo not the Icemen.
His appearance took him level with Luis Figo on a record 127 caps and brushing aside the tournament’s minnows was meant to come easy.
It even looked like Ronaldo had a look up to himself on the big screen during the national anthems, just to check every hair was in place.
But within seconds of kick-off he was on the ground getting an earful from Aron Gunnarsson.
There were signs it was not going to be CR7’s night, especially when Iceland showed they would be no pushovers as early as the third minute.
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Swansea star Gylfi Sigurdsson cut inside Danilo but going near post with his shot gave keeper Rui Patricio the chance to save.
It was a warning sign. This simply was not meant to happen from a country with a population of 330,000.
The entire country could live in the St Etienne area.
But they had to go behind before making history.
Pantomime villain Ronaldo was getting jeers from the stands — but Nani was getting a sniff of an opener.
His header from Ronaldo’s cross was superbly saved by Hannes Halldorsson’s feet. But the Manchester United flop was celebrating on 30 minutes.
Andre Gomes teed the opener up with his hard work on the right and Nani tucked in the cross from close range.
He was known as a winger at Old Trafford but now looks at home partnering his old club-mate Ronnie up front.
When he slipped between Ragnar Sigurdsson and Gunnarsson, he looked a penalty-box predator in the Jermain Defoe mould. The 29-year-old certainly looked like he could have helped Louis van Gaal last season instead of being flogged to Fenerbahce.
Ronaldo himself had been getting closer to a goal, firstly with a header that flew wide from Vierinha’s cross.
After the break he cracked a half-volley that flashed wide.
But the Iceland fans went wild when Bjarnason levelled.
Charlton midfielder Johann Gudmundsson’s curling cross to the back post was volleyed home by Bjarnason.
Then it was a case of keeping Ronaldo and Co at bay.
Halldorsson palmed away Gomes’ curler, then denied him seconds later with a shot from the corner. With five minutes left Ronaldo planted a free header at Halldorsson.
Alfred Finnbogason came on and almost won it, which would have sent shockwaves through the tournament. Even so, their fairytale continues.
EURO DREAM TEAM RATINGS:
PORTUGAL: Patricio 6, Moutinho 7, Mario 7, Gomes 8, Pereira 7, Pepe 8, Vieirinha 7, Carvalho 7, Guerreiro 8, Ronaldo 7, Nani 8.
SUBS: Sanches 6, Quaresma 6, Eder 5.
ICELAND: Halldorsson 7, Sigthorsson 6, Gudmundson 7, Arnason 6, Gunnarsson 6, Skulason 6, Bjarnason 6, Bodvarsson 6, Ragnar Sigurdsson 6, Saevarsson 6, Gylfi Sigurdsson 6.
SUBS: Finnbogason 5, Bjarnason 6.
BOOKED: Bjarnason, Finnbogason.
STAR MAN: Raphael Guerreiro.
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