Northern Ireland 1-3 Germany

The Germans took control through early goals scored by Rudy and Wagner, and a late third from Kimmich, as they preserved their record of never having tasted defeat in an away World Cup qualifier.

Josh Magennis scored a consolation effort in the 91st minute.

The visitors never looked like their run would come to an end in Belfast, and Northern Ireland had barely touched the ball by the time the Germans took the lead.

After an opening 90 seconds of possession and pressure, a clearance dropped to Sebastian Rudy who was 25 yards outside the box. He caught the ball sweetly on the half volley to send a crashing, curling shot into the top-right corner.

The huge centre forward presence of Sandro Wagner proved a handful for the home defence, and he almost bundled home a Joshua Kimmich cross in the 5th minute.

Another delivery from the fullback in the 17th minute saw Wagner connect with a flying, diving header which came back off the post.

Wagner's dominance soon enough saw him find the net, as he doubled the German lead in the 21st minute.

Leon Goretzka rolled the ball into his feet on the edge of the box, and Wagner was able to turn his marker and unleash a left-footed shot from 18 yards which sailed past Michael McGovern.

Northern Ireland had spent virtually the entire opening period camped within their own half, but finally created a couple of chances as the first 45 drew to a close.

Marc-Andre ter Stegen was finally called into action after a cross from the right by Josh Magennis found its way to Corry Evans at the back post.

However, by the time he got it out of his feet, the Barcelona keeper had swept off his line to knock it clear.

Brunt's attempted follow-up shot was deflected wide, and his resulting corner found the head of Kyle Lafferty, whose effort was easily gathered by the goalkeeper.

Germany remained in control in the opening minutes of the second half, and only a superb fingertip save from McGovern kept out Muller's 51st minute header.

Northern Ireland generally coped well with the German pressure in the second period with Stuart Dallas replacing Lee Hodson as Michael O'Neill opted for a conventional back four.

A rare opening for Northern Ireland came in the 77th minute when Magennis robbed a German defender to tee up substitute Conor Washington. He stepped beyond the challenge of Jerome Boateng, but his shot clipped the crossbar and flew over.

4 minutes from time, the home defence failed to fully clear a cross, and Joshua Kimmich struck a volley from a tight angle to make it 3-0.

With seconds remaining, Brunt's corner was headed back towards goal by Gareth McAuley, and Josh Magennis got the final touch to guide it past the keeper.

Northern Ireland remain well placed to secure a playoff spot, but that is to be determined by various results during the final round of fixtures.