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England's surprise Iceland loss inspires Euro 2016 record 4.8 million Tweets

England's embarrassing defeat by Iceland may have sent the Three Lions back home from Euro 2016 and saw manager Roy Hodgson resign, but the match became the most talked about on social media of the tournament, with some 4.8 million Tweets.

Following the final whistle in Nice at the end of a famous 2-1 victory for outsiders Iceland, football fans went into overdrive as 135,000 Tweets-per-minute were posted on the micro-blogging site, which was a record for any single moment at the championship.

Before England's humiliation at the Stade de Nice, the previous high point had been the dramatic late goal from West Ham forward Dimitri Payet which helped France win the opening match against Romania in Paris which had generated 89,000 Tweets-per-minute (TPM). The game itself had seen three million Tweets in total.

England goalkeeper Joe Hart -- who allowed a low shot from Kolbeinn Sigthorsson to squirm under his arm and over the line, which sealed victory for the Icelanders -- was the player with the most number of mentions during the match, followed by ineffective Tottenham forward Harry Kane and captain Wayne Rooney, scorer of an early penalty but substituted late on.

Since Euro 2016 began, the showpiece tournament has generated more than 60 million Tweets around the championship.

Other highlights which have seen a spike in posts include when Southampton striker Graziano Pelle scored in stoppage-time to seal Italy's 2-0 victory over Spain at the Stade de France with 56,000 TPM, and 52,000 TPM when Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale beat Hart with a long-range free kick to put Wales ahead during the Group B match in Lens, an encounter which saw some 2.1 million Tweets in total.

As Euro 2016 now enters the knock-out stages, France striker Antoine Griezmann, whose double salvo helped the hosts overcome the Republic of Ireland in their last-16 clash, is the most-talked about individual player.

Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo has yet to fire on all cylinders but makes the top-five player chat, as does Bale, Belgian playmaker Eden Hazard and Stoke midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri, whose spectacular late volley in Saint-Etienne was not enough to put Switzerland through to the quarterfinals as they went on to lose against Poland after a penalty shoot-out.

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