Northern Ireland v Italy (15/11/2021)

During his six years playing senior international football McNair has been cautioned on just five occasions. His first yellow card came in a friendly encounter with Slovakia in June 2016 just prior to the Euro 2016 finals in France. He was also booked in a 2-0 defeat to Germany in September 2019 and this year picked up three yellows inside four matches in contests versus Bulgaria, Ukraine and Lithuania.

As already stated McNair won his first full international cap while on the books of Manchester United and in total made 11 outings for his country during his spell at Old Trafford. During his two years at Sunderland he clocked up another nine appearances for Northern Ireland and since his move to Middlesbrough he has played a further 31 international matches.

Paddy also won honours at youth level for Northern Ireland, representing the Under 21s twice in 2014 - against Serbia and tonight’s opponents Italy. He also turned out five times for the Under-19 side, once for the U17s and played seven matches for the Northern Ireland Under-16 Schoolboys team which included current Irish League players Jamie Glackin (Coleraine) and goalkeeper Chris Johns (Linfield) . Thirty-four of McNair’s 51 Northern Ireland caps have been in competitive matches. He has appeared in 15 Euro qualifying and finals games and 10 World Cup qualifiers (prior to the Lithuania match on Friday) , while nine caps have come in the Nations League. His remaining 17 appearances have all been in international friendlies.

In seven years of playing football in England, McNair has played 183 matches and scored 17 goals for his three professional clubs. At Manchester United he made just 27 appearances - all under Louis van Gaal - without scoring before being transferred to Sunderland for a fee of £5.5 million. A serious injury meant restricted game time at the Stadium of Light and he chalked up just 28 games, scoring seven goals in two seasons, before signing for his current employers Middlesbrough in June 2018. He has scored 10 goals in 128 outings for Boro.

IRISHFA.COM

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