Lafferty to feature for Northern Ireland vs Luxembourg

Michael O'Neill says striker Kyle Lafferty will play a part in Thursday night's friendly game with Luxembourg.

The 31-year-old was a late call-up after a series of injuries affecting the squad.

Lafferty had originally been omitted because he hadn't yet joined Sarpsborg in Norway. He made his debut at the weekend, but was sent off.

"The key is to try to keep ourselves as strong as possible. Kyle played at the weekend so he's in slightly better shape so we can bring him in and we can give him some minutes," said O'Neill.

"He wasn't in the original squad because he didn't have a club and it's impossible to ask a player to play international football without a club. We have to remember where he is. He last started a club game against Cowdenbeath in January.

"He played the 2 games for us in March and we felt he contributed a lot for the 60, 65 minutes he had in his legs. He's not going to be what we know he has the potential to be, or what he has been in the past, but he has the potential to contribute," said O'Neill.

Corry Evans will captain a youthful side at The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park, with O'Neill expected to use the friendly game as an opportunity to rest senior players for the visit of Germany in Monday's Euro qualifier.

"We won't just give them game time for the sake of giving it to them. It's an opportunity, but the objective is to get a good performance, and the players who need some game time will get that as well. It's also a chance for supporters to see some of the players coming through," said O'Neill.