Trap hitting right notes in London encore

TWELVE months ago, Giovanni Trapattoni touched down in London for just his second game in charge of the Republic of Ireland, a largely low-key friendly against Colombia, and duly likened himself to a concert pianist.

“Even they need confidence in themselves,” he said, an early entry in the manager’s anthology of cryptic comments.

Now, on his return to the English capital for tonight’s equally inauspicious friendly with Nigeria, Trapattoni is more brassy than keyboard – as bullish and self-assured as one would expect of a man who has catapulted an underachieving and largely unfancied side into contention for qualification to the 2010 World Cup.