Northern Ireland boss hopes Germany's star players are rested

1. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NORTHERN IRELAND MANAGER, MICHAEL O'NEILL, SAYING:

"I am not sure the team will be any weaker, I would imagine, hopefully Toni Kroos gets a rest, and one or two others. Gnabry I think needs a rest as well. We will face a very strong team. You know one of the difficulties we always have playing Germany is that when Jogi (Joachim Loew) makes substitutions and you realise that the players coming on are equally as strong as the players that are going off so that is a big challenge for us."

STORY: Northern Ireland go into Tuesday's (November 19) EURO 2020 qualifier against Germany as something of a David versus Goliath battle.

The team are recovering from a missed penalty in their last game that gave the Netherlands automatic qualification alongside Germany for next summer's tournament.

Ahead of their encounter in Frankfurt, Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill jokingly said he hoped that star players like Toni Kroos and Serge Gnabry were rested and that the Germans were a strong team whichever players Joachim Loew selects.