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Glen Williams

The truth behind Wales stars celebrating England's shock defeat to Iceland and how Man Utd icon Gary Neville fuelled it

Former Wales captain Ashley Williams has lifted the lid on the viral video of Wales stars celebrating England's defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016.

The clip of Welsh players entering euphoria as minnows Iceland knocked England out of the tournament was loved by many supporters in Wales, but caused controversy as English pundits, media and fans fumed at the footage and felt it to be in bad taste.

Five years on, Williams has revealed the truth behind the celebrations - and explained it was England's own over-reaction to their injury-time win over Wales during the group stages which was a major factor behind it.

"We had England in the groups in Euro 2016, we were going back and forward with them in press conferences, especially Gaz [Gareth Bale]," said Williams, speaking to Ladbrokes at the launch of their European Championships 5-a-side Bet.

"I'm trying to put fires out left, right and centre, Gaz keeps doing press conferences winding them up, they're having a nibble back.

"Then they beat us in the 98th minute, or whatever it was, and over-celebrated. Gary Neville - their coach - is running down to the corner flag to celebrate. If we'd have won in the same manner, I'm not saying we wouldn't have done the same thing, but the back and forth goes on with them long after the game.

"Half of our squad are born in England - but we're very Welsh. No-one doubted our commitment to Wales. We watched the game against Iceland, and there's a little bit of previous from a couple of weeks ago, but a lot of it was just because it was Iceland.

"Who didn't love Iceland that year? Apart from England, everyone else loved them."

There have been many theories as to how that video entered the wider public consciousness.

Given that the only people in the room were part of Wales' tournament squad and staff, there could only be a few suspects. But Williams says the blame always seems to circle back to the same person.

"It was just a group of lads, away from home, probably a little bit bored watching a game, getting carried away like everyone does," Williams said.

"We were cheering every throw-in. I don't know how the video got out, we blame little Jonny Williams for it getting out.

"The whole time it's going on, I'm in the background thinking 'Oh my days'. Half of us are born in England, this was not going to go down well. But it was just lads having fun. I think our media team were a little bit annoyed about it, but ultimately it was meant in jest, that's the honest answer."

There was a special bond within that Wales squad which resonated with the public back home.

They brought the nation together with a stirring display in their first major tournament appearance since the 1958 World Cup and it was clear they were going to enjoy every last second of it.

In fact, after that magical quarter-final win over Belgium, Williams revealed the squad partied all night, despite being due to face a Cristiano Ronaldo-led Portugal in the semis just a few days later.

"We didn't sleep at all after that Belgium game - there was no sleeping," Williams said. "I'd hurt my shoulder during the game so I was back in the sling.

"It was party time for us. We knew we had the semi-final in a few days, but we didn't care about that at all. We wanted to enjoy the occasion. We just partied the whole night away.

"How can you not? The worst thing to have done would've been to go to bed, and then play Portugal and lose anyway. If you're Wales and you've just beaten the team ranked number one in the world in the quarter-final, in that manner, you're going to celebrate that.

"We had the culture balance right; we worked hard on the pitch and we partied hard when the time was right - we'd all grown up together."

Wales fans are hoping that this time around their national team can replicate, or even better, that feat from five years ago.

How far will Wales go at these Euros? Have your say in the comments section below

Following a draw with Switzerland in the opening game and a stellar display in a 2-0 win over Turkey on Wednesday night, it looks almost nailed on that Wales will progress through to the knockout stages.

Despite it being half a decade on, though, Williams' recollection of what Wales' tactics were back in 2016 might just be ringing true this time around as well. And that is certainly no bad thing.

"We knew we had Gaz and Aaron [Ramsey] up the top end of the pitch to work their magic," he said of 2016.

"I was the captain of the team and we all knew our roles. Keep the ball out the net, get the ball to Gaz and Aaron and let them do their thing."

That is certainly what happened as those two superstars destroyed Turkey. Next up for Wales are Italy on Sunday night in the Group A finale.

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