Manchester United fan Aron Gunnarsson cannot wait to go toe-to-toe with Wayne Rooney as Iceland's "fairytale" continues against England.
As if the tiny island of 330,000 inhabitants making Euro 2016 was not enough, on Wednesday they pipped Portugal to second place in Group F to set up a last 16 clash with Roy Hodgson's men.
Gunnarsson is one of three Icelandic players playing in the English leagues and currently plies his trade with Cardiff, following a spell at Coventry where he played with a young Jordan Henderson.
The 27-year-old is looking forward to seeing his former team-mate and, in particular, to pitting his wits against striker-cum-midfielder Rooney.
"It's going to be a good moment because I'm a Man United fan so there you go," Gunnarsson said with a smile.
"It is another fairytale but all the Icelandic people watch the Premier League and they follow English football.
"Everyone back home knows the England players, we know their style and hopefully we minimise their quality."
Well-organised, solid and adept on the break, Iceland certainly have the ability to prove England problems at the Stade de Nice.
Gunnarsson understands why they would be relieved to avoid Portugal, but that has not stopped the lowest-ranked side remaining at Euro 2016 from dreaming.
"It's hard to describe," he said. "It's something that we've dreamt about and it's something that other players want to treasure for the rest of our lives.
"Our aim was to get to the 16 and now we have to set a new target.
"England on Monday that's going to be a difficult game because England have been playing solid in this tournament and they've got unbelievable quality in the squad. They rotated a lot so it's going to be another fight."
Iceland are unable to call upon anything like that strength in depth, meaning skipper Gunnarsson had to plough on for the final 30 minutes against Austria despite "seeing stars".
It is a historic win he puts down in no small part to their "Viking spirit" and the midfielder is confident their squad will be back at their best on Monday.
"The days' rest are important for us because we've not rotated a lot and we've put the same players out there, especially with the hard defending as we've done lately," he said.
"It's going to play a big part but the extra days are really important for us, yes."
Source: PA
