Spain 4 Ireland 0: Fear and tension led to mistakes, says Trapattoni

Giovanni Trapattoni blamed the Republic of Ireland’s feelings of “fear and tension” for successive defeats by Croatia and Spain which resulted in their early exit from Euro 2012.

Fernando Torres’s brace, plus goals from David Silva and Cesc Fàbregas helped the holders to a comfortable 4-0 victory over Ireland, moving Spain to the top of Group D on goal difference.

Ireland, who went into the tournament 14 games unbeaten, conceded early goals to Mario Mandzukić and Torres in each of their European championship games, forcing Trapattoni to abandon his pre-match tactics.

He faces his native country Italy in Ireland’s final fixture, knowing victory will prevent his side from finishing bottom of Group D, with the Azzurri trailing Spain and Croatia by two points but still hopeful of securing a place in the quarter-finals.

“Fear and tension has meant that we have made mistakes we didn’t make in the qualifiers,” Trapattoni said.

“I will ask the lads how on earth it is possible, after two games, we have conceded two goals in the opening three or four minutes.

“Something has changed from our qualifying campaign. We can see the weight on the players’ shoulders, but I haven’t seen this in training and I am very sad about this.

“The mistakes we made here means we have suffered a bit of a psychological blow.

“We don’t see fear in training or in our preparations for the tournament. I don’t see tensions in the side.

“For the second time, we conceded an early goal and again it throws any tactical plan out of the window.”

Open a bet365 account with £10 or more and you'll get a free bet of up to £200 on us. Click here for more information.

Like The Sport Review on Facebook:

Read more on: croatia, Euro 2012, giovanni trapattoni, ireland, spain.