Luxembourg v Northern Ireland Live Commentary & Result, 3/25/22, Friendlies

Thanks for joining us for Northern Ireland's 3-1 win over Luxembourg in an international friendly match.

Northern Ireland have another game in this international break, hosting Hungary in their next game on 29th March as they look to carry the momentum from this win forward. Luxembourg will travel to Bosnia-Herzegovina in their next match, as they try to get back on track.

The game finishes, with the scoreline 3-1 to the visitors. They were set on their way after 16 minutes, when Magennis outmuscled Chanot before placing a shot past Moris into the bottom left corner. Northern Ireland were pegged back though, as Martins got on the end of a corner to head home from a couple of yards. Baraclough's men restored their advantage on 83 minutes, when Davies reacted to a loose ball in the home box before poking into the back of the net. They finished the job on 85 minutes, when Whyte latched onto a poor pass by Mahmutovic before slipping the ball past Moris to make it 3-1 and secure the victory.

90' + 4' FULL-TIME: LUXEMBOURG 1-3 NORTHERN IRELAND

90' + 2' Moris is out of his goal quickly to collect a Charles through ball before Whyte can get to it and add a fourth goal.

90' The fourth official puts up his board, indicating that there will be three minutes of additional time.

M. Deville

D. Sinani

88' Deville is on in place of Sinani.

G. Whyte

Goal

85' It's 3-1!!! Whyte chases onto a poor touch by Mahmutovic before running in on goal, and sliding the ball past Moris to surely put this game to bed.

S. Thill

L. Barreiro

84' Martins makes way for Thill.

Y. Borges Sanches

G. Rodrigues

84' Sanches comes on for Rodrigues.

D. Charles

Assist

83' Charles was able to nudge the ball to Davis before the Southampton midfielder did the rest.

S. Davis

Goal

83' The visitors take the lead again!!! Davis is quickest to react in the home box after a McGinn cross, latching onto the loose ball before stabbing the ball home to make it 2-1.

82' Martins makes a big interception in the box to halt a Northern Ireland attack, playing the ball off Brown to win a goal-kick.

D. Charles

Yellow Card

80' Charles is booked for a really late challenge for Olesen.

N. McGinn

S. Dallas

79' McGinn comes on for Leeds man Dallas.

78' Thill takes a free-kick from 30 yards out, but his curled effort is easily caught by Southwood as the keeper shuffled to his left.

76' The visitors have lost only four of their last 19 friendly matches.

M. Olesen

M. Pinto

74' Pinto comes off for Olesen.

72' Rodrigues has scored five and assisted two goals in his last nine international appearances.

V. Thill

O. Thill

70' Vincent Thill comes on for Olivier Thill.

67' Thill is momentarily down requiring some treatment after a coming together in midfield. However, the Luxembourg man looks okay to continue.

65' The hosts have won just two of their last 10 matches.

S. Davis

J. Thompson

63' Davis is on for Thompson in midfield.

D. Charles

J. Magennis

63' Goalscorer Magennis is replaced by Charles.

G. Whyte

S. Lavery

63' Lavery makes way for Whyte.

C. Brown

J. Evans

63' Brown comes on for Evans.

62' Southwood makes another couple of important stops to deny Rodrigues from distance, and then Sinani from the rebound.

60' Sinani cuts onto his left foot before firing at goal, but Southwood is down quickly to his left to stop his effort.

M. Martins

Goal

58' The hosts are level!!! A corner comes in from the right, and Martins is there to head into the back of the net to make it 1-1. Evans initially got the header, but the ball skimmed off his head to the Luxembourg midfielder, who made no mistake with his nodded effort from a couple of yards out.

58' Cathcart makes a huge interception in the box to nod a cross behind before Sinani can head at goal.

56' Chanot is very fortunate to avoid a second booking for a really heavy challenge on Magennis.

54' Pinto shoots from just outside the box, but his tame effort is straight at Southwood.

52' Evans does really well to outmuscle Rodrigues as the Luxembourg striker looked to cross. The Leicester centre-half is able to see the ball out for a goal-kick.

50' There's carnage in the Luxembourg box as Magennis nods a cross back across goal, but the hosts are able to finally scramble it clear as their goal looked in peril.

48' Rodrigues picks up a loose ball in the visitors' box, but his touch deserts him as the ball pings off the back of his left leg to a defender, who clears upfield.

46' The hosts get us back underway for the second period.

E. Mahmutovic

D. Carlson

46' Mahmutovic also comes on for Carlson at half-time.

L. Southwood

C. Hazard

46' Southwood replaces Hazard in the Northern Ireland goal at the break.

Whilst it's only a friendly, both teams will be keen to get a result here to inspire confidence in their next campaign to qualify for a big tournament. Can the hosts turn it around?

The game goes to the break with the scoreline 1-0 to the visitors. They took the lead after 16 minutes, when Magennis shrugged off the challenge of Chanot and then drove towards goal, before firing past Moris. The hosts complained for a foul, but the referee disagreed and awarded the goal. Luxembourg had a couple of chances to equalise before the break, but Rodrigues' shot flew over while none of his teammates were present to turn in his cross right across the face of goal.

45' + 3' HALF-TIME: LUXEMBOURG 0-1 NORTHERN IRELAND

45' + 2' Lavery dribbles forward with the ball on the counter all the way into the Luxembourg box, but ends up blazing his shot over.

45' The referee has added on three minutes of additional time at the end of this first half.

43' Northern Ireland's last victory against Luxembourg came in 2019, in a 1-0 friendly victory.

L. Barreiro

Yellow Card

41' Barreiro is carded after a coming together in midfield with Lavery.

39' Luxembourg have played Northern Ireland twice at home before, losing one and winning the other.

37' Rodrigues sends a low delivery across the face of goal, but Flanagan is able to drag it behind for a corner as a couple of Luxembourg attackers were waiting to pounce.

35' Good chance for the hosts! Martins hooks a cross back across goal, and Rodrigues is there to meet it. However, his half-volley is wild and flies over.

33' The hosts have had 56% of the possession so far in the match, but have struggled to create many clear-cut chances. Evans and his defence have done a good job of snuffing out Luxembourg attacks.

31' A Northern Ireland attack comes to nothing after Dallas is judged to have caught Thill with an elbow.

29' Rodrigues takes the free-kick, and sends his effort flying well over Hazard's crossbar.

28' The hosts have a free-kick in a decent position, after Pereira is felled by Dallas 30 yards out from goal.

26' Evans shoots from outside the box, but Moris is down quickly to his left to gather it.

24' Magennis manages to nod a cross from the right back across goal, but Chanot is able to hoof it clear before any visiting forward can reach it.

22' The visitors have had three shots on target, while Luxembourg are still yet to register one.

M. Chanot

Yellow Card

20' Chanot is booked after clattering into Ferguson in midfield.

18' Cathcart makes a big challenge in his own box, to take the ball off the toes of Rodrigues as the striker looked to shoot.

J. Magennis

Goal

16' The visitors take the lead!!! Magennis is the goalscorer, after the former Charlton man outmuscles Chanot before lashing home. The hosts claim for a foul on their centre-half, but the referee disagrees and awards the goal.

14' Both teams have had decent chances, without either side being able to convert. Who will be the first to break the deadlock?

12' Thill fizzes a shot just wide from outside the box.

11' Close again! A cross is flicked out to Evans, and his shot is curled towards the far corner. Moris does well to dive to his left and tip it wide, before also saving Thompson's shot off the rebound.

9' Baraclough's men go close! Lavery receives the ball and drives towards the box before firing a low shot just wide of the left post, as Moris scrambled to his right.

7' Ferguson sends in another wicked cross, but Moris is out of his goal quickly to come and catch it before any harm can be done.

5' Rodrigues gets in around the back of the defence, but he's ruled offside as he looked to latch onto a long through ball.

3' There's an early opportunity for Northern Ireland as Ferguson sends a low cross into a dangerous area, but there's no teammate there to get anything away at goal.

1' The visitors kick us off and we are underway.

The two teams make their way onto the pitch ahead of kick-off.

Visiting boss Ian Baraclough goes with five alterations from the 0-0 draw with Italy, as Hazard comes in for Bailey Peacock-Farrell as goalkeeper while Dallas, Evans and Thompson come into the midfield. Lavery also starts, joining Magennis up top.

Home head coach Luc Holtz makes four changes from his team’s last match, a 3-0 defeat to the Republic of Ireland, with Moris replacing Schon in goal while Martins, Carlson and Rodrigues also come in.

SUBS: Dion Charles, Steven Davis, Danny Ballard, Ciaron Brown, Alistair McCann, Paddy Lane, Caolan Boyd-Munce, Luke Southwood, Gavin Whyte, Liam Donnelly, Niall McGinn, Joshua Clarke.

NORTHERN IRELAND (3-5-2): Conor Hazard; Tom Flanagan, Jonny Evans, Craig Cathcart; Stuart Dallas, Corry Evans, Jordan Thompson, George Saville, Shane Ferguson; Shayne Lavery, Josh Magennis.

SUBS: Maurice Deville, Florian Bohnert, Lucas Fox, Mathias Olesen, Vincent Thill, Enes Mahmutovic, Ralph Schon, Eric Veiga, Yvandro Borges Sanches, Diogo Pimentel, Sebastien Thill, Vahid Selimovic.

LUXEMBOURG (4-1-4-1): Anthony Moris; Marvin Martins, Maxime Chanot, Dirk Carlson, Michael Pinto; Christopher Martins Pereira; Olivier Thill, Danel Sinani, Leandro Barreira Martins, Laurent Jans; Gerson Rodrigues.

The visitors meanwhile also didn’t qualify for the World Cup, finishing third in Group C. They will look to get a good result here to shape their squad for future qualification campaigns.

The hosts come into this game after failing to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, only winning three and losing five of their eight qualification games in Group A.

Hello and welcome to live coverage of the international friendly between Luxembourg and Northern Ireland.

Luxembourg v Northern Ireland Live Commentary, 3/25/22

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