Ambition drives Giggs on as Wales face Italians

RYAN GIGGS knows he is facing probably his best and last chance of reaching a major international tournament with Wales.

The Manchester United winger, who has won more medals than any other player in Old Trafford history, will reach the grand old age of 30 in November. And for the first time in his 41-cap international career which has spanned 12 years, the Welsh are within touching distance of the European Championships.

A favourable result against mighty Italy in the imposing San Siro tomorrow could rubber-stamp Wales' passage to the finals in Portugal.

And Giggs has every intention of being there. "I want to be able to look back and say I played against the best players for my country in a major tournament finals. I will not be this close to it again and I am confident we will not throw it away after the brilliant start we made to this group."

Italy can claim top spot in Group Nine if they avenge the 2-1 defeat they suffered in Cardiff last October, but Giggs added: "We beat Italy once and we can beat them again.

"They will remember and be afraid of what they faced at the Millennium Stadium and hopefully we can put on another performance like that.

"It is a hard task to get a result in Italy, but we know we have beaten them before so we can do it again."

Craig Bellamy is available for selection despite the concerns of his club Newcastle over a knee injury.

The biggest dilemma for manager Mark Hughes is whether to include the striker from the start, and he said yesterday: "I believe Craig has a very good chance of playing against Italy."

Although Wales have only beaten Italy in two of their past eight encounters in 38 years, Hughes' men are aiming to repeat last year's historic win at the Millennium Stadium, a defeat which left Italy boss Giovanni Trapattoni fearing for his job.

Trapattoni had already been under pressure following Italy's last-16 exit at the World Cup, but, since the defeat in Cardiff, they have improved.

"They will be wary of us, they will remember what happened in Cardiff last year," said Celtic striker John Hartson, who has returned to the side after a back injury.

Fulham defender Andy Melville is set to recover in time after struggling with a bad heel and his fellow defenders will be relieved not to be facing Italy's formidable first-choice attack of Francesco Totti, Alessandro del Piero and Christian Vieri.

Roma captain Totti was ruled out with an abdominal injury while Inter Milan forward Vieri is struggling with a troublesome left knee, although he should play.The man who would have probably replaced Totti Juventus striker Fabrizio Miccoli is absent with appendicitis and that means del Piero is likely to take Totti's playmaker role behind Vieri and Filippo Inzaghi.

Inzaghi returns to the fold after being dropped for last month's 1-0 friendly win over Germany in which the Totti-del Piero-Vieri combination won rave reviews.

Midfielder Cristiano Zanetti and defender Alessandro Nesta are also back, having missed the previous game due to injury, while captain Fabio Cannavaro is recovering from a sore throat.