Trap confident of stopping Ibrahimovic

Giovanni Trapattoni is backing his defenders to keep Zlatan Ibrahimovic at bay as the Republic of Ireland attempt to take a step towards World Cup qualification in Sweden.

The Republic will head for the Friends Arena in Stockholm on Friday evening knowing defeat would represent a serious blow to their hopes of making it to Brazil in 2014 with the two sides and Tuesday night’s opponents in Dublin, Austria, seemingly vying for second spot in Group C behind leaders Germany.