Iceland win can inspire us against Belgium, says Wales hero

The Wales players and staff were pictured celebrating Iceland’s victory over the Three Lions in a video leaked to social media sites within an hour of the final whistle in Nice.

Taylor says the players have no regrets over the video and suggested that the celebrations were more about supporting the underdog than revelling in England’s embarrassment.

“It wasn't meant to come out but that's social media these days,” said the Swansea City stalwart, whose club teammate Gylfi Sigurdsson starred for Iceland.

“We're not aware of how it got out. It's one of those things.

"We don't regret it. The lads were having a bit of fun, enjoying Iceland.

"It was a bit of a laugh. We've enjoyed Iceland all the way through, they've been unbelievable.

“Gylfi was talking to me back at Swansea and telling me what they were like.

“And when you sit down and think about Iceland, the population, what they've done. It's unbelievable, that applies to a lot of countries in this tournament."

The expanded tournament – from 16 to 24 teams – was criticised before a ball was kicked but Taylor believes the move has increased rather than decreased the quality of the event.

"It's strange because the ones who have been criticised are the ones who would have qualified anyway, under the old rules,” he said.

“I think it's made it better. In the last three or four years matches with the smaller teams are no longer 7-0 or 8-0, like they used to be. We had Andorra in our group. It has changed.

“The Iceland manager has organised his team very well and the gap is no longer as big as it used to be. It's like the Premier League, everything is coming a lot closer together."

And Taylor says Wales hope to follow Iceland’s lead against Belgium in Lille on Friday night.

“It does give you inspiration in a way,” he said.

“They’ve done unbelievably, Iceland, they’ve gone under the radar a little bit, people haven’t analysed them that well.

“They’ve not got the respect they deserved. The way they qualified, they qualified outright, we can take inspiration from that – and the Leicester thing.

“Everyone was vying for Leicester to win [the Premier League], apart from their rivals. Everybody loves that underdog story.”