Northern Ireland will face one of the best players in the world in Georgia’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia on Friday night but Terry Devlin has warned against fixating on the Paris St Germain star.

Portsmouth right-back Devlin, 22, could come face-to-face with the star left-winger if he gets the nod for Northern Ireland’s Nations League opener in Tbilisi.

It promises to be a daunting assignment for whoever does start against a player who has been key to PSG winning the Champions League two seasons in a row, having been named the competition’s player of the season last term.

“Obviously he’s an amazing player, but they have other good players as well so you can’t put too much focus on one player,” Devlin said.

placeholder image — Paris Saint-Germain's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia will line up against Northern Ireland on Friday. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP via Getty Images)

“You’ve got to just play the way you normally play. As a group you just have to defend how you normally defend, just go out and hopefully deal with the threat.”

Michael O’Neill’s side are making the step up to Group B in the Nations League this time following promotion, also facing Hungary and Ukraine in a group that will test their credentials ahead of next year’s Euro 2028 qualifying campaign.

The first goal is to establish themselves at this level, but Devlin believes it is an evenly-matched group.

“Anyone can win the group,” he said. “We’ve got to be ready for that challenge and treat every team the same. We’ve got to go out and do our best and hopefully get some good results…

“You definitely don’t want to be going up and down. The goal is to show we can compete at this level and compete with some of the top nations in Europe.”