Seamus Coleman insists he is not kept awake at night thinking of how to stop Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Portuguese star needs just one more goal to become the all-time leading scorer in international football with 110 goals.
And the new Manchester United recruit is determined to complete that job here at the Estadio Algarve tomorrow night having just missed out at Euro 2020.
Skipper Coleman will be one of the Irish defenders tasked with keeping the global star under wraps.
But in Faro this evening, he said: “It’s not a case of ruining any parties or anything like that, because we have to focus on ourselves.
“Everyone in the world knows how important and how amazing Cristiano Ronaldo has been in the last 15 years. It’s incredible really.
“As a group we have to focus on what our plan is tomorrow and how we can stop them from playing. But they have a few players that we have to keep an eye on.
“It’s going to be tough because Ronaldo is one of the best players who has ever played the game.
“We’re looking forward to getting out there and playing against him, but ultimately we will have our own plan and try to take that to them.”
And that sentiment was echoed by Ireland boss Stephen Kenny who has a full squad to pick from after no late injury setbacks.
Kenny said: “Ronaldo is without a doubt an outstanding talent and has been for nearly two decades, but they have a lot of good players all over the park.
“It’s a great game for us, an important World Cup qualifier, and we feel we have a lot of potential in our team.
“We're building a team and looking to make more progress after a good June window.”
