Victory is aim for Trapattoni

Giovanni Trapattoni will send his Republic of Ireland team into World Cup battle in Bulgaria tomorrow night intent only on victory.

However, the wily Italian admits after the game, he might be happy with a draw as Ireland look to keep the chasing pack at bay in Group 8.

Victory at the Vassil Levski Stadium would send the visitors to the top of the pile, ahead of current leaders and reigning champions Italy.

It would also leave the Bulgarians, perhaps the Republic’s closest challengers for the runners-up spot when the group was drawn, eight points adrift with only a single game in hand.

However, while Trapattoni will be targeting all three points, he knows a draw would not be the worst result for his team.

He said: “I go on to the pitch with my team and I hope to win. I don’t think about losing.

“Every coach thinks about winning – afterwards, you think maybe a draw is a good result.

“This game will be for us a very important and a difficult game. I am conscious how important it is to finish this long season with a positive result.”

That has largely been the way since Trapattoni took charge last year – his side is unbeaten in six competitive games and has tasted defeat only once in his 11 outings to date.

That resilience and the confidence it has helped to breed were major factors in Italy in April when skipper Robbie Keane’s late equaliser denied the Marcelo Lippi’s 10 men victory and maintained Ireland’s bid for qualification.

However, the Italian has been in the game long enough to know how quickly things can change in football, and he saw enough from Bulgaria at Croke Park in March, when Kevin Kilbane’s own goal handed them a deserved point, to expect a much tougher test this time around.

As if to illustrate the point, opposite number Stanimir Stoilov will this time be able to call upon Dimitar Berbatov, Martin Petrov and Valeri Bojinov, all of whom were injured for the game in Dublin.

Trapattoni said: “It’s is absolutely important to concentrate for an hour and 50 minutes.

“We know the famous Bulgaria players, they know the little details, they are clever they are also creative, so I repeat, my players, we need to be 100% concentrated always.

“The have back players like Berbatov and Petrov who were missing in the last game. We know them, they are famous, they play in England.

“We have respect for those two players.”