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Sagna: Iceland are the “Leicester City of Euro 2016″

Sunday, July 03, 2016 Source: squawka.com

Iceland, whose population is around 330,000, have surprised everyone by making it to the quarter-finals of Euro 2016 having most recently defeated England.

Their achievements to date have been widely praised and speaking ahead of their quarter-final game on Sunday, Sagna has said they are similar to Leicester in their achievements and their players have more than proved themselves on the big stage.

''I think, after the Euros, a lot of clubs will come in for their players because they’ve shown they can play well, they can cope with the pressure and that they can cause teams problems. For a lot of people they’re the surprise team of the tournament,” he said, as quoted by the Guardian.

''They’re a bit like the Leicester City of Euro 2016, but they totally deserve to be here and they showed in qualifying that they could beat good teams. They twice beat Holland, they beat the Czechs and finished top of their group. They’re a quality team and you can’t underestimate them.”

Hosts France lock horns with Iceland at the Stade de France later tonight after beating Republic of Ireland 2-1 in their last-16 outing.

Sagna has started all four of France’s games at the Euros, with the entire back four having played every single minute possible so far at the tournament. Adil Rami, along with N’Golo Kante, will be suspended for the quarter-finals for accumulation of yellow cards, however.

The Manchester City right-back has won a mighty 83% of his overall duels at Euro 2016 so far, completing 86% of his passes while averaging six defensive actions per game.

He will have to perform to the highest level to get the better of dark horses Iceland in Paris though, with Lars Largerback’s side having excelled against all odds to this point.

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