Elmar Bjarnason found it hard to convey his pride and honour at helping Iceland make history, but found it easier to express their belief in causing a Euro 2016 upset against England.

On Wednesday evening at the Stade de France the smallest country to grace the European Championship secured their first victory in a quite remarkable fashion.

Austria were in the ascendancy after Alessandro Schopf cancelled out Jon Dadi Bodvarsson's first-half opener, only for Iceland to break in stoppage-time and complete a 2-1 win that propelled them to second in Group F ahead of Portugal.

Bjarnason provided the cross for fellow substitute Arnor Ingvi Traustason to score the winner, which secured the country of just 330,000 people a last-16 tie with England on Monday.

"I am really proud, it's unbelievable," the former Celtic winger told Press Association Sport. "I am honoured to get to play with my good friends.

"I've played alongside them for many years. Some up through under-17s, under-19s and now this.

"It's just unreal and looking up to the stands and seeing 15,000 Icelandic people gather - I never thought I could see the day. It's just pride I feel mainly."

Wednesday was comfortably the greatest day in Icelandic football history, but would be usurped on Monday should they upset the apple cart once again in Nice.

England may be 165 times the size of the North Atlantic island but their previous performances have shown they are capable of shocking Europe's establishment.

That success has increased confidence throughout the Icelandic ranks, but Bjarnason has been watching Roy Hodgson's side in France and knows the threat they pose.

"They probably haven't played their best game yet in the tournament and they want to show and prove to everybody that they have a good team," he said.

"If you see player by player, they have one of the strongest sides in the cup. If they hit the day, they're going to be hard to beat.

"I mean our belief in the team is tremendous. We've beaten some big nations on the way here and got results against some of the biggest nations in the world, like Portugal and Holland, Czech Republic and Turkey.

"The belief is there but we also know we have to hit our 110 per cent day to be able to get a result. Hopefully it'll be our day."

Bjarnason says the fact they play Monday means they have a "few days to come down to do earth" once they have celebrated with their compatriots.

That merrymaking will no doubt be frowned upon by Cristiano Ronaldo, who criticised Iceland's "small mentality" and ability after the group opener finished 1-1.

In the end, Portugal finished behind them and only progressed as one of the best third-placed sides - something that brought a wry smile to Bjarnason's face.

"Yes, it was great," he said when asked of the win being a nice response to Ronaldo.

"It just shows what you can do when you have team spirit, when you're not playing for yourself. It's unbelievable to be part of this great team."