Jeff Hendrick says Ireland have 'nothing to lose' against Italy

Jeff Hendrick has told the Republic of Ireland they have nothing to lose in their do-or-die Euro 2016 clash with Italy.

Hendrick and his team-mates will be going home if they fail to beat the Group E leaders in Lille on Wednesday night after Saturday's bruising 3-0 defeat by Belgium in Bordeaux.

Martin O'Neill's side never really got themselves into the second game in the competition and were ultimately punished by Romelu Lukaku's double either side of Axel Witsel's thumping header as the Belgians improved on their weak first showing in the tournament.

The result has left them knowing they will have to pull off one of the biggest results in the nation's footballing history if they are to extend their stay in France.

Midfielder Hendrick said: "We've nothing to lose. We know we have to get a win.

"We take confidence - even though we went 3-0 down, we kept the ball well and that's what we have got to do for 90 minutes against Italy. We have got to be better at keeping the ball.

"It is hard work when you play countries who keep the ball. It tires you out, so we've got to try to do that to other teams.

"We'll have to watch the videos and assess this game and see what we did well and badly, and try to improve on it and make sure we're right going into the Italy game.

"We'll do our homework on them, but we have just got to put this result behind us and try to move on. We need to win against Italy, so it's do-or-die."

Ireland battled their way to half-time unscathed on a day when they saw little of the ball as Belgium dominated possession, although keeper Darren Randolph had little to do.

However, they fell behind within three minutes of the restart when, with striker Shane Long appealing in vain for a penalty after finding himself sandwiched between Thomas Vermaelen and former Southampton team-mate Toby Alderweireld, the Belgians broke at pace for Lukaku to fire expertly past Randolph.

Hendrick said: "We knew it would be a tough game and it showed in the first half. It looked like we weathered the storm.

"Then we got out in the second half and we started to string a few passes together. We were on the attack and then for them to break and score is hard to take."