Trap dismayed by Italy’s latest football scandal

IF tonight’s friendly in Liege might seem something of an anti-climax for Ireland after that high-stakes game in Skopje, for Italy the feeling must be closer to after-shock.

Once again, Italian club football finds itself engulfed in scandal, and the presence of Italian as well as Irish journalists in the media room of the Maurice Dufrasne stadium yesterday, ensured that Giovanni Trapattoni was obliged to spend a big chunk of the pre-match press conference addressing the culture of corruption which infects calcio.

“I am deeply saddened,” he said. “The eyes of the world are on Italian football and we shoot ourselves in the foot again. We hurt ourselves. It’s just impossible to believe.

“There have always been strange people in and around football. But what I find strange is young players getting involved. Things like this happened back in the day but I always kept my distance. You need to do that.

“Culturally, we need to find a way to eliminate this. I go to schools and talk about the importance of fair play. So it saddens me when players, especially young players, get involved in this type of thing.”

Asked by one Italian journalist if — as an icon of calcio and an Italian with a huge international profile — he felt ashamed and embarrassed by the goings on at home, Trapattoni replied: “It’s not about being ashamed, it’s the fact that this discredits football and it shouldn’t happen.”

The 72-year-old fondly recalled that he actually began his international career in this Belgian city, playing in a tournament here for Italy at the tender age of 15.

Tonight’s match also marks a reunion of two old colleagues in the rival dug-outs, with Trapattoni yesterday making a point of sending his “affection regards” to Azzurri boss Cesare Prandelli, who played for him at Juventus in the early 1980s.

For his part, Prandelli later told us that Trapattoni had been “a great influence” on him.

Tongue firmly in cheek, the Irish Examiner asked Prandelli if, one day, he too would like to manage the Irish team. “Why not?” he replied to much laughter. “But first I’d have to get advice from Trapattoni.”

Meanwhile, in the latest news from the Irish camp, Aiden McGeady has returned to Moscow at the request of Spartak who have a game coming up at the weekend, while Glenn Whelan, although he remains with the squad, is nursing a swollen ankle.