Luxembourg coach Luc Holtz believes it is no surprise to see Northern Ireland top of their Nations League group despite the young age of Michael O’Neill’s team.
Northern Ireland arrived in Luxembourg needing only a draw to secure promotion to League B after Friday’s 2-0 win over Belarus, in which their starting line-up had an average age of just 23 years and two months.
Such has been the transformation that Holtz will not recognise most of the players from the Northern Ireland side that played a friendly here two and a half years ago – only three players that started that match, a 3-1 win under Ian Baraclough, have made the trip this time.
But, speaking through a translator, Holtz said he was “absolutely not surprised” by Northern Ireland’s development.
“The age doesn’t matter,” Holtz said. “It’s not a question of age, it’s a question of personality and of the quality of the players. They have fantastic young players playing in big clubs, earning a lot of experience every week in training and in their club matches, and it’s not a surprise.
“It’s only a question of quality, and there is a lot of quality.”
While Northern Ireland sit top of Group Three eyeing up a return to the second tier of European football, Luxembourg are bottom of the standings with only two points from five games, fearing the drop to League D.
O’Neill believes Luxembourg’s standing does not reflect their quality and Holtz is hoping to take advantage of Northern Ireland’s struggles on the road – last year’s win over San Marino is their only competitive away win in three years.
“We will play tomorrow to win the game,” Holtz said. “Northern Ireland is not as strong away as at home.
“This is not a match just to be played, it’s important for us to qualify for the (relegation play-off) to save us in the division, so it’s a very important match for us. We will play to win.”
This Nations League campaign began with the two sides meeting at Windsor Park, a game Northern Ireland won 2-0 thanks to goals from Paddy McNair and Daniel Ballard inside the opening 20 minutes.
“In Belfast, Northern Ireland were very strong and we were very bad in all areas,” Holtz said.
“But since then we have improved and played better. We started very badly in the Nations League and that day we had no chance to make the result, but it was two months ago and we have improved.
“Tomorrow will be a very strong game with high intensity. We have to accept that and fight.”