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Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill defends his tactics in the 1-0 defeat against Germany, claiming that "it's not in [his] nature to set the team up to lose 7-0".

Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill has defended his tactics in the 1-0 defeat against Germany in Tuesday's Euro 2016 Group C clash at Paris's Parc des Princes.

The world champions dominated throughout the 90 minutes, but stout defending and a string of saves from NI goalkeeper Michael McGovern kept the score down at the Parc des Princes.

O'Neill told BBC Sport after the game: "Nobody sets up their team to just defend but you look at the Germany team and you see Bayern, Real Madrid and so on... it's not in my nature to set the team up to lose 7-0.

"But we earned the right to be here and we'll have earned the right to be in the last 16 if we make it that far. I'm immensely proud that we are even playing here against the world champions in Paris."

The narrow defeat means that Northern Ireland are better placed than Albania, who finished third in Group A.

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