In their first match of the new UEFA Nations League 2024/25, Luxembourg suffered a 2-0 away loss to Northern Ireland on Thursday evening.
Played at Windsor Park in Belfast, the home side went 2-0 up within the first 20 minutes thanks to goals from Paddy McNair (11 mins) who scored with a powerful shot into the left-hand corner, and Daniel Ballard (17 mins) who put the ball in the goal from Saville's free kick hit in to the near post.
The referee, Marian Barbu from Romania, allowed the game to flow and handed out just two cards: Mahmutovic was booked just in half-time, with Northern Ireland's Brown also yellow-carded, just three minutes from the end of the game.
With the home team enjoying a two-goal cushion and the crowd behind them, both teams made a substitution at the start of the second half, with Michael Pinto on for Mahmutovic for Luxembourg, and John Magennis replacing Dion Charles in Northern Ireland's midfield.
Overall, Luxembourg had much more of the ball (official statistics showed they had 60% possession), but Northern Ireland had more shots on goal (fourteen compared to just eight for the visitors) and corners (ten compared to just two). It was just Northern Ireland's second win in seventeen matches in this competition, and Luxembourg should feel disappointed they did not perform better. Gerson Rodrigues did almost score with a near-post header, and goalkeeper Anthony Moris pulled off a good save late in the game from McCausland to deny the home team a third goal.
Elsewhere in Group C3, Bulgaria and Belarus played out a 0-0 draw in Zalaegerszeg (Belarus). Luxembourg's next game is this Sunday, 8 September, at home to Belarus at 15:00.
Luxembourg: Anthony Moris (GK), Dirk Carlson, Lars Gerson, Enes Mahmutovic, Laurent Jans (c), Leandro Barreiro, Christopher Martins, Florian Bohnert, Eric Veiga, Mathias Olesen, Gerson Rodrigues.
