Iceland failed to use their brains in Sunday’s 5-2 defeat to France at Euro 2016, joint coach Lars Lagerback said, though he spoke with pride of the team’s achievements in getting to the quarter-finals in their first tournament appearance.

France romped into a 4-0 half-time lead in the last of the quarter-finals and though the Icelanders showed commendable spirit to fight back after the break another shock, after their victory over England, never looked likely.

“The first half looked like the play-off second leg against Croatia for the (2014) World Cup. We didn’t handle it well mentally,” Lagerback said in reference to that 2-0 Zagreb defeat after a goalless first leg.

“It’s some kind of mental thing that happened to the players. We weren’t using our brains, we didn’t play our normal way.

“Part of it is that France were very good but we weren’t sharp enough in our decision-making,” added Lagerback, who is now handing over the reins completely to current partner Heimir Hallgrimsson.

Lagerback was full of pride and praise for the way the players had performed through the month, when they won one and drew two group games before shocking England in the last 16, in Nice.

“It’s been a fantastic tournament so it’s a big thank you to everyone,” he said.

“If you look at the whole tournament, and to reach the quarter-finals, it’s been fantastic.”