Michael O'Neill has one message for his Northern Ireland side ahead of tonight's Euro 2024 qualifier against Denmark - go out and enjoy it!
O'Neill's youthful squad will step into the 38,000-seater Parken Stadium to take on the Group H favourites in a crucial qualification game with both sides hoping to bounce back from defeat last time out.
But rather than fear the challenge that awaits against the Danes the Northern Ireland boss has backed his young charges to rise to the occasion.
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“I think they should embrace it really more than anything else,” said O'Neill.
“The message will be to go out and enjoy playing in a stadium like this.
“The thing I’ve enjoyed in working with the younger players is I see their attitude to the game, it’s very positive, I don’t think they’ll have a fear.
“There’s a lot of self-belief and abilities in the likes of Shea Charles, Isaac Price, Conor Bradley, Trai Hume, they play in games where they’ve a lot of expectancy where they’re currently playing their football.
“I think we have to have that mindset that we’ve got everything to gain from Friday night and not fear the atmosphere but look forward to it.”
While Northern Ireland may be without several of their most experienced players the hosts can boast a squad brimming with talent.
In Rasmus Hojlund they have a talented young striker who is attracting attention from the likes of Manchester United.
His international teammate, Christian Eriksen, is already at Old Trafford and has been a mainstay of the Danish side for many years.
O'Neill, who is delighted to see Eriksen back to his best on the international scene again, says Northern Ireland will have to come up with a plan to nullify him.
“We understand we are dealing with a top level player here,” O’Neill said.
“It’s brilliant seeing him back playing international football.
“The days of man marking players is more difficult now but as a team we have made the midfield players in particular very aware of the Danish midfield and Christian Eriksen is the major player in that midfield. He is a hugely experienced player at international level.
“I think to deal with players at that level it’s more about what we do as a collective as opposed to possibly that designated player to deal with that situation.”
Both Northern Ireland and Denmark find themselves on three points after two group games.
O'Neill feels Group H is going to be nip and tuck throughout the qualification games, but he said his side is determined to bring home something from Copenhagen ahead of Monday night's home game against Kazakhstan.
“Obviously we were disappointed with the home game against Finland (a 1-0 defeat in March), we felt we deserved more than we got, so we’ve got to try and make up points somewhere along the line," he said.
"This is a hard place to play, but we’ll go with the intention of trying to find something from the game.
“It would give us six points and it would make up for the disappointment of Finland.
“I don’t think it’s about sending out a statement. I think this group could be very tight. Results have demonstrated that.
“If you can take anything off the number one seed in the group it is a massive achievement.”
O'Neill's plans were hit late on as Jamal Lewis was forced to withdraw from the squad due to injury.
With Shane Ferguson already missing it leaves Northern Ireland with a shortage of left-sided players.
Both Trai Hume and Conor Bradley are expected to get the nod in defence and with Shea Charles looking set to retain his place in midfield there will be a very youthful look to the side, but O'Neill is embracing the challenge.
“This is a good game for us,” he said. “It’s a young squad, we’ve got seven Under-21 players with us. We’ll rely heavily on our experienced players as well. It’s a game we can only really gain from."
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