Northern Ireland defender Gareth McAuley speaking after his team's 2-0 win over Ukraine said that nobody gave the team any chance of getting a positive result.
The win for Northern Ireland against Ukraine was massive as it now means that the team have a chance of making it through to the last 16. McAuley and Niall McGinn were the goalscorers as Northern Ireland recovered from their opening defeat to Poland.
McAuley glad to prove people wrong
McAuley was extremely proud of the team saying "people had written us off, nobody gave us a chance" as many people said that Northern Ireland would have no chance in the group after the opening loss. The defender continued to say that the win is a "very special moment" as it gave the Green and White army their first ever win at a European Championship.
McAuley admitted that the team "weren't at it against Poland and we wanted to put it right" which they managed to do as McAuley said that "we let ourselves down in terms of intensity" so for the team they wanted to "prove a point to themselves" which they did and now have given themselves a chance of qualifying from Group C.
After the Poland game, many people were disappointed with the performance that the team gave as it was a game that many people thought they could get something from. The team were spurred on against Ukraine by the supporters who were fantastic in Lyon and McAuley was glad to give something back to them.
McAuley believes that the team can qualify from the group
McAuley says that the victory over Ukraine was a "wonderful team performance" as everyone in the team contributed to the win which is what you need in order to be successful and McAuley says that he was also delighted for the "supporters" as they could enjoy this famous victory.
Northern Ireland's final game in Group C is on Tuesday against Germany in Paris and they will be hoping that this victory can spur them on to get something from this game which will see them qualify from the group. McAuley thinks that the team can achieve big things saying "we have something to play in our last game" which is what the team would have wanted at the start of the campaign and the defender says that the team "take a lot of confidence" into the game.