SOCCER:GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI said yesterday that he expects a warm welcome from the Italian fans in Bari on Wednesday night as he is, he suggested, one of the country's "most loved coaches".

The former Juventus boss seemed pleased at the prospect although Trapattoni’s fellow countryman, Niccolo Machiavelli famously contended that it is better to be feared than loved and in the wake of events over the weekend there is precious little chance that either the 70-year-old manager or his Irish team will inspire too much trepidation amongst followers of the current world champions.

As if the surrender of yet another lead in an important qualifying match was not enough, the Irish look set to be without Celtic winger Aiden McGeady for the game in Italy. The 22-year-old had been a doubt for Saturday’s draw with Bulgaria due to a badly bruised right foot and though he played in the end he turned in a decidedly subdued performance.

Over the course of the game, it turned out, he had sustained a new injury to his left knee that got progressively worse as the night wore on and Trapattoni sounded very doubtful when asked about whether the player would be fit enough to earn his 25th cap in Bari.

“Shay Given will be fit I’m sure but at the moment my only change is likely to be McGeady,” he said after a training session both men missed yesterday morning.

“He had a bit of a knock to the knee and I don’t know,” he continued.

“I hope he will be fit but if not then, as I said before, we have Andy Keogh who is in good form and we also have Shane Long.” To judge by his comments yesterday Keogh would appear to be in pole position to start should McGeady miss out for the Italian went out of his way to praise the Wolves player who, he said, possesses “a cleverness” that will stand to him.

The team on Wednesday night is otherwise expected to be unchanged despite the less than commanding performance turning in by the Irish in front of 60,002 spectators over the weekend.

About the most encouraging thing from Trapattoni’s point of view was the display by his central defenders Richard Dunne and John O’Shea as well that of his ever dependable goalkeeper Given.

Dunne scored Ireland’s goal after a flick on by O’Shea and in defence, Trapattoni hailed the pair as “unbeatable”. Certainly, neither was in any way to blame for the Bulgarian goal some 16 minutes from time with Kevin Kilbane inadvertently turning a powerful low cross by Stiliyan Petrov into his own net.

Trapattoni, however, remained upbeat about his side’s chances of taking something from Wednesday’s game, suggesting that the Italian’s approach would be less overtly physical than that of the Bulgarians who, the manager claimed, had been shown too much leniency by the Croatian referee at Croke Park.

Italy will be stronger in terms of their mentality,” he said. “but they will not be physical in the way that Poland or Bulgaria were. I think that will help us although our character will be very, very important in a game like this.” To avoid defeat at the San Nicola stadium, he acknowledged, would be a major achievement. In the event that Ireland do lose and Bulgaria beat Cyprus in Sofia then the gap between the two countries in the group would be down to four points with the Bulgarians having a game in hand and the advantage of a home game against the Irish still to come.

Italy’s weekend went rather better than Ireland’s with the world champions returning home from Podgorica with a hard-fought but, in the end, well earned 2-0 win over Montenegro.

Andrea Pirlo gave Marcello Lippi’s side a first half lead from the penalty spot before Sampdoria striker Giampaolo Pazzani marked his international debut with the second goal of the night to wrap up the win.

Lippi hailed Pazzani’s performance as “brilliant” and said that after Ireland dropping points in Dublin Wednesday’s game represented a “good chance,” for his side, “to build a good advantage,” over their closest rivals for top spot in Group Eight.

Saturday’s victory came at some cost, however, with Udinese striker Antonio Di Natale picking up a knee injury that is expected to keep him out of the game against Ireland.

The 31-year-old, who was given his international debut by Trapattoni during his time as national team coach, limped out of the game less than 10 minutes in and while he was due to see a specialist yesterday afternoon there were initial fears that the problem could involve his cruciate ligament.

There was no official confirmation of the diagnosis but Di Natale admitted to being worried about the situation while Lippi said he was “so sorry” for the player.