Northern Ireland captain Jonny Evans has acknowledged that his side must be 'almost perfect' if they are to have any chance of returning from Germany with a positive result this evening.
The Green and White Army travel to Hannover aiming to build on their performance from Euro 2016 against the same opposition, when they restricted the world champions to a 1-0 win.
Evans, who played a full part in that group-stage clash in Paris four months ago, believes that Ireland have what it takes to claim a point from the European heavyweights in this latest tussle on the road to Russia 2018.
"They never let us get near the ball [in Paris]," he is quoted as saying by BBC Sport. "The way they controlled the game against us, the timing of the pass, the angles they play at. It takes a lot of time for a team to understand how to play against a side like that.
"We will have to play almost the perfect game, we will have to defend - they know they will have a lot of possession - but hope that on the break we can put the ball in the box and make more of an opportunity from them."
Only Portugal and England, in 1985 and 2001 respectively, have recorded World Cup qualifying wins over Germany in 86 attempts.
