Tardelli keen to avoid do-or-die battle

No one can be more qualified than Marco Tardelli to under-stand the pressures on players in a major tournament — and the twists of fate that separate triumph from disaster.

In Budapest on Sunday he was reminiscing with Italian journalists about his experiences in 1982, when a team that drew its first three games and should have gone out in the first round went on to triumph at the expense of Brazil and West Germany.

“Just think if we arrived at the Ireland-Italy game and a draw would allow both teams to go through. It would be real sporting drama. The eyes of the world would be on us and we’d have to live with all sorts of nasty suggestions.”