John: Standby for a spine-tingling rendition of La Marseillaise from this packed Parisian crowd.  

"Oh, God of our country! Oh, our country's God!We worship Thy name in its wonder sublime."  

Iceland's national anthem is a sombre affair and it's very, very quiet inside the Stade de France. Not a tubthumper. Great horn part though.

The players look drilled, focused, not overawed. Can they really pull this off? 

Image source, AFP

Antoine Griezmann taking the Paul Ince role at the back of the line as Paul Pogba gees up his team-mates. Griezmann has got a word tattooed across his knuckles which I can't quite make out. It's not love and hate is it?

Here they come! Rain teeming down.

James Liggins: Think Iceland could spring an upset tonight. I mean, there wasn't one in the last game they played in.

Image source, Getty Images

Danny Mills
Ex-England defender at the Stade de France for BBC Radio 5 live

Most of us have seen Mangala play so maybe it's not a surprise Umtiti is starting for France. He's young but he should be able to ease himself into the game. 

The whole stadium has been doing the Icelandic clap. Even the French fans. They're clearly everybody's favourite second team.

Here we go then. Iceland in white tonight line up in the tunnel, Cardiff midfielder Aron Gunnarsson heading the queue. France come out seconds later, zipped up in tracksuit tops.

There is so much expectation on these 11 men. Allez Les Bleus indeed.

You can barely see the Stade de France from the Uefa chopper. It's a grey, grisly and grim evening.

Will France and Iceland produce a game to illuminate the gloom? We are almost ready. 

Image source, AFP

James in Southampton: If your answer at 19:34 was correct, and if there was one hug every millisecond, the whole ritual would take 25 times longer than the lifetime of the universe.  

I don't understand a solitary word of this

A stat which is often parroted around is that more than half the population of Iceland believe in the existence of elves.

How many believe in a win tonight?

Image source, AFP

Dimitri Payet waves to the crowd as the French players finally head back down the tunnel. The biggest pre-match talk for Didier Deschamps since his last one. Paris expects.

France expects.

Europe expects.

Paul Fletcher
BBC Sport at Stade de France in Paris

Everyone at the big bit heavy clap thing the Iceland fans do so well. Very much becoming the defining image of this tournament.

The French seem to have quite taken to it - and I think you might just be seeing this one at quite a few grounds next season.

You've been warned.

Image source, AFP

I don't know anybody who's been to Iceland and has a bad word to say about it John.

I know four people who have been to Iceland. It's not a massive sample size, granted.

I enjoyed it anyway. 

Any tenuous reasons for supporting one of the remaining teams?

John (Jon Harrison in Icelandic): I worked in Iceland. In 1997 - before it became fashionable - loved it and have been a massive Icelandophile ever since. They are the only country I don't mind England losing to and I have some Brennivin (Icelandic schnapps) which has been slowly slipping down each time they play. Koma a Islandi! 

A reminder that of Iceland's starting XI, only Ragnar Sigurdsson and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson are not one booking away from missing a potential semi-final.

They can't afford to take it easy though. 

I knew you wouldn't let me down. Though you can't agree. 

If 23 French footballers hug each of their 22 team-mates, how many hugs is that?

William James, Manchester:  I knew there would finally be a use for this maths degree I have been studying for. 276 hugs, 23+22+21+20...etc. Nice try though. 

Matt in Sale: 23 players each hug 22 times (everybody in the squad but themselves) which is 23 x 22 so 506. As each hug is 2 people it's 506 divided by 2 so 253 total hugs.    

Tim in Marlow: Tom, it is 22+21+20 etc. So a total of 253 cuddles. 

Here's the scene live from the fan zone in Reykjavik.

Wish you were here?

From a neutral point of view, we could do with an early goal tonight. These knockout games can descend into a cagey affair otherwise.

Iceland conceded very early against England of course, but still roared back to win. Easily too. 

Image source, Reuters

Iceland goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson only turned pro in 2014, at the age of 30. Before then he had combined part-time football with his work as a video director.

You may have heard that he directed the video for Iceland's 2012 EuroVision entry - 'Never Forget' by Greta Salome & Jonsi.

Guess who gave the song nul points? France!

And to make it worse, the Icelandic jury gave France six points. Out of a total of 21...

Danny Mills
Ex-England defender at the Stade de France for BBC Radio 5 live

Image source, EPA

Unity is what's got Iceland this far. It's the same team again tonight, they'll have all the brilliant support again, they just have this amazing togetherness. And who knows? It might just help them through to the semi-final.

A few years ago we all thought the Spanish way was the way to go, then we thought it was the German way. Perhaps it's actually the Icelandic way?