Keane hits out at Ireland allocation

Martin O’Neill has called on his Republic of Ireland charges to match the intensity of their victory over Italy when facing hosts France at Euro 2016 on Sunday.

Republic of Ireland will not be focused on revenge for their World Cup play-off loss when they face France at Euro 2016, says Hugo Lloris.

O’Neill said: “We have practised the penalties pretty well consistently but in all honesty, replicating that on the training ground where all players want to take the penalties – all of them, including he goalkeepers, everybody wants to take a penalty. France have had that opportunity, having advanced three days before us, so it is going to be seriously one-sided”.

But aside from their fans’ guilt at the events of Paris 2009, France have yet to sparkle on home soil which gives the Boys in Green some hope.

France topped group A with two wins and a draw while Ireland struggled through their opening two games before a late victor from Robbie Brady against Italy sent them through in the most dramatic circumstances.

O’Neill said his team’s preparations have been limited. And sometimes you can have a seven-day rest between matches and lads can switch off. As imperious as he was all season in the Foxes, he has been for France and his seamless transition into worldwide football will likely see the Premier League champions soon receiving bids.

“But we reacted fantastically well to that low last weekend and now we’ve got to kick on”.

“That goal did hurt the whole nation at the time but, hopefully, we can now get a result against France and get one back on them”, the midfielder told the Mirror.

Naturally, the manager’s main concern is player recuperation and making sure that his starting XI have fully replenished their energy levels ahead of the game.

To gain an insight into the mindset of the fans we asked UAE fans to share with us their predictions, likely line-ups and players to watch.

The central defender sustained the injury in their final group win over Northern Ireland, with manager Joachim Low forced to wait until the eve of Sunday’s game in Lille to find out if he can play.

Stephen Ward and Jonathan Walters trained at the Stade de Lyon on Saturday but remain doubts with ankle and achilles injuries respectively. “You don’t want to go out of the competition meekly; you want to go out blazing if you can”.

He first wore the armband in a friendly against England in November 2010, although former France coach Laurent Blanc changed his captains several times before finally giving it to Lloris on a full-time basis almost one year later. We don’t even think about that. Yet they hit the bar three times against Switzerland. The players have embraced the tournament. “We wanted so much to qualify”.

“Ireland V Italy was one of those moments that we will look back on with pride in years to come”. We know they will outnumber us in terms of support.

The French fans of course felt bad about what happened and Henry received a hard time from the French press, though I still think if it had been the other way around Ireland would have just been happy to have qualified for the World Cup.

“There is no revenge in football”. We can’t change it. “There have been some great performances by the side, which there had to be because you couldn’t play that well against Sweden or you couldn’t play that well against Italy and get four points in the group if we hadn’t had some players who can play”.

“I honestly don’t think it will be important”.