PADDY AGNEWlistens in as the Italian coach talks about his former manager at Juventus and why it's absurd to say the Irish boss is defensive

IF THERE is one thing for certain about this summer’s European Championship finals in Poland and Ukraine, it is that Italy will not be underestimating first-round opponents Ireland.

With all due respect to the Irish squad, too, the reason for this serious respect concerns Irish team manager, living Italian legend Giovanni Trapattoni.

If you ask Italian team coach Cesare Prandelli how he feels about meeting Trap’s Ireland in Poznan next June, he makes a face and then smiles, saying: “I don’t even want to name him or it will bring me bad luck. As soon as you mention his name, he pops up to lay some sort of trap for you.

“In truth, though, it will be an honour and a pleasure to meet Ireland and Trap, I feel very linked to him, he was my coach at Juventus for six years. For me, he’s a reference point and not just from the viewpoint of football technique.

“Trap’s Ireland will make everyone struggle, us included. We have to start off with that in mind, otherwise the game against Ireland will be very, very difficult.”

Does that mean that Prandelli would like to get to that third first-round game against Ireland in Poznan on June 18th with his qualification already in the bag?

“Of course, we would like to get to the third game already qualified, every team wants to do that but we even more so because we’ll be up against Trap. He will be a very awkward customer, absolutely . . . ”

Prandelli, 54, a former Roma and Fiorentina coach, in charge of Italy since the summer of 2010, confirmed that he regularly hears from Trapattoni.

Asked about the legend which suggests that Trapattoni used to remonstrate with Prandelli in his Juventus days because Prandelli insisted on moving up in attack rather than sitting back anchoring the midfield behind the talents of such as Michel Platini, Zibi Boniek et al, the Italian coach yesterday was at pains to point out that Trap’s defensive label often seems like a journalistic cliche to him.

“Football lives by cliches and labels. In the ’80s Trap had Platini, Boniek, (Paolo) Rossi and (Roberto) Bettega in the same (Juventus) team, two strikers and two attacking midfielders.

“Obviously, if the other players then go up in attack, well then Trap is going to whistle at me in order to keep the team balanced. But it’s absurd to depict Trap as a defensive coach, history shows that he fielded teams that were very, very offensive. Maybe in the final minutes of a game, he maintained a certain balance just to wrap up the result.”

Asked about the fact that Ireland will be completing their pre-Euro 2012 training in Italy, at Montecatini, near Florence, where the Italians will also be training at the Federation centre of Coverciano, Prandelli said that this was no problem, indeed welcoming the move, saying: “No, that’s not a problem for us. On the contrary it is very flattering because if Trap has made this choice it means that our facilities remain among the best and most up to date in the world.”

Prandelli willingly concedes that his side could not get off to a more difficult start than an opening game against the reigning world and European champions Spain. “They are undoubtedly the strongest team of the moment, with a whole fleet of class players.

“Maybe we are lucky that we have to play them first, that way my players will understand what it means to be playing in the European Championship finals. So we’ve got to arrive absolutely ready for that first game.”

Ominously, Prandelli also has a high opinion of the fourth side in Group C, namely Croatia, commenting: “As soon as the draw was made, everybody was asking me about the games against Spain and Ireland but my suspicion is that the game against Croatia could be our most important one.

“Firstly because it will be our second game and that nearly always decides everything in the first round of a tournament. Secondly, because I know Croatia, I know [coach Slaven] Bilic, I am familiar with his work. This is a team which has terrific technique in its DNA, with lots of good players and for that reason I see this as our most difficult game.”

Asked about his “enfant terrible”, striker Mario Balotelli, Prandelli made it very clear that, even if he omitted Balotelli from Italy’s most recent friendly squad, the Manchester City player remains a vital element in his team plans.

“We have our rules of ethical behaviour and everyone has got to follow them. However, in my head, Balotelli is a first-choice player but this is a moment when he has to show that he has the personality and the capacity to handle the sort of pressure that he is under,” says Prandelli.

Prandelli, who also confirmed that he will wait until the last possible moment for his two injured strikers, Antonio Cassano and Giuseppe Rossi, to recover from injury, concluded by saying that he has a good feeling about this summer’s finals.

“Right now, I have very positive sensations about Euro 2012, there’s plenty of time up ahead to get worried about things . . . ”

About that man Trapattoni, no doubt.