In-form Northern Ireland might have kept seven clean sheets in eight qualifying games but the world champions will be strong favourites in tomorrow night’s World Cup clash in Belfast.
Germany saw off Michael O’Neill’s men 2-0 in the resulting game and top amthe world rankings.
But veteran defender McAuley is savouring the prospect of playing the mighty Germans in his own backyard - and is targeting a special night at a rocking Windsor Park.
The West Brom star, 37, said: “The German players are on another level and Thomas Muller’s movement is brilliant.
“They have lots of other players with that quality but I see games like this as a challenge.
“How do you improve if you don’t challenge yourself against these players? If you can stop them, it makes you feel good when you sit down and think about it and you have real satisfaction.
“If we could beat Germany, it would be the biggest result that I’ve ever had in international football and up there with the best for the country.
“If you look at the stat that they have never lost a World Cup qualifier away from home that’s just ridiculous.
“It would be incredible if we did it and would be amazing for our country to say we ended their record.
“It’s going to be tough. We know we are going to have to play counter attack football but we have the belief that we can hurt them.
“And the game is in Belfast with a tight ground and a big crowd behind us. We have nothing to lose.
“They are talking about having 10 wins out of 10 in the qualifying and it’s up to us to stop that.”
McAuley admits that when he first came into the international set-up in 2005, overcoming major nations would mean a big Northern Ireland party.
England and Spain were among the nations put to the sword in shock results in recent years but McAuley added: “Years ago if we had got a big result we’d probably be hitting the town to celebrate and thought happy days.
“But now there is a complete different mentality in the group.
“You saw what it meant to the country to get to Euro 2016 and it would be amazing to do that again and qualify for another major tournament.
