Gibraltar defender Jayce Olivero will approach Monday night’s Euro 2024 qualifier against the Republic of Ireland as “a final” as the minnows look to add to Stephen Kenny’s misery.
The clash between the sides currently occupying the bottom two places in Group B at the Aviva Stadium could prove make or break for Kenny after Friday’s 2-1 defeat in Greece left his team pointless and with his critics once again on the offensive.
Gibraltar, who are ranked 201st by FIFA, have lost each of their three opening fixtures against the Greeks, the Netherlands and France 3-0 and while the odds may be heavily stacked against them in Dublin, Europa defender Olivero is relishing the task ahead.
He said: “The game for us is a final. Ireland are a great nation and a really, really big team, and they’ve always competed at the very top.
“This is what we want. We want to compete against the very best and we prepare with everything we have for every game we have, and that’s what we’re looking to do in our next game.
“We compete with everything we have and that’s the most important thing for us.”
Ireland were decidedly second-best in Athens as they followed up a 1-0 home defeat by France in their opening fixture – in which they produced a spirited display – with a tepid performance.
Asked if Gibraltar could capitalise on the fall-out from that game, manager Jose Ribas said: “It’s important that we focus on our game.
“Ireland are a great side regardless of their form at the moment. We’ve seen them playing against Greece, we’ve seen them playing against France and they’ve put in good performances.
“We respect them, they’re a great side.”
Ribas, who has been in charge since 2018, has assimilated a new generation of players into his squad, but has retained vast experience with defender Roy Chipolina, 40, and 41-year-old striker Lee Casciaro starting against France and 37-year-old Scott Wiseman, who enjoyed a 13-year career in English league football, coming off the bench.
Asked how important that experience to his team, the Uruguayan said: “It’s obviously very important.
“We’ve got 23 players – some who are unfortunately not with the squad now – some of whom have played right through from Under-17s level, and of course it’s very important to have these very experienced players who have been through a lot with Gibraltar.
“We’ve only been admitted to UEFA very recently and it’s great that these young players have that experience to help them. We believe with that, they will grow.”
'I will keep fighting' - Ten Hag adamant he is the right manager for Man Utd
Erik ten Hag insists that he is the right man for the job at Manchester United despite their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Crystal Palace on Monday.
Michael Olise netted twice against a sorry United team at Selhurst Park, with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also getting on the scoresheet.
It is the first time that Palace have done the double over the Red Devils in the Premier League, as United extended their winless run on the road to five games.
There has been a lot of speculation over Ten Hag’s future following a disappointing second campaign in charge, with just one year left on his contract.
Asked if he was the right manager for United, he told Sky Sports: "Absolutely. If the right players are there and available, we have a good squad, but are missing the whole backline – we had problems.
"I will keep fighting. I prepared the team in the best way I could do. It was not good enough, by far – I have to take responsibility for that. But I will find energy and prepare them for Sunday’s game.
"At the end of the day, I have to do it with the players who are available. All season, we have huge [injury] problems. Many times we have sorted it out. Today we didn’t."
United have struggled with injury problems all season, with Harry Maguire and club captain Bruno Fernandes joining the lengthy list of players missing against Palace.
Ten Hag highlighted the lack of defensive options at his disposal but did not make excuses for the poor performance, adding: "It’s clear and obvious – this is underperforming. It’s not good enough. We are very disappointed in this. Our fans were behind us all the way – we should have kept fighting like the fans did.
"There are always reasons. Everyone sees our backline, we have huge problems, but at the end of the day we have to deal with it – we should have done better than we did.
"We know [how damaging it could be], but we have nine points to play, so we have to fight for the nine points."
Man Utd thrashing a 'big statement' but Palace are not surprised, says Eze
Eberechi Eze says Crystal Palace's 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United is a "big statement" but insists there should be little surprise that it happened.
Micheal Olise scored twice as Palace ran riot against the sorry Red Devils at Selhurst Park on Monday.
Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also got in on the act as Palace sealed their first league double over United.
Palace have now won four of their last five Premier League games, with Oliver Glasner having turned the tide in the past few weeks.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Eze said: "It says a lot, it's a big statement, but we're not surprised.
"We know what we're capable of, we know what we can do. The quality we've got in the dressing room is high – we don't see it as a surprise. We know what we came here to do today, it worked.
"You can see we’re creating chances, we're not worried about what's going on behind us. We're attacking, pressing, we're aggressive – we're going to continue to create chances for sure."
Also speaking to Sky Sports, Glasner said: "Congratulations to the team. I think in the first half, we didn't play as well as we could, but we were very efficient and scored very nice goals.
"At half-time, we made some adaptations, and the second half was much better. We created a lot of chances, scored some nice goals, and it's a great win.
"We know we have quality when we get our players in situations to score a goal.
"Good players, a good team spirit, but we must always stay humble. It's not so long ago we were struggling [in a relegation battle]. We are doing well, but we have a lot to improve."
This was Palace's biggest Premier League win since beating Leeds United 5-1 in April 2023, while it also marked their biggest on home soil in the competition since a 5-0 victory over Leicester City in April 2018.
Udinese 1-1 Napoli: Struggling Bianconeri grab last-gasp home draw
Napoli were held to a 1-1 draw at relegation-battling Udinese in Serie A on Monday after a stoppage-time goal by forward Isaac Success cancelled out a Victor Osimhen header.
Osimhen nodded home to give Napoli the lead in the 51st minute after Matteo Politano sent a lofted cross from the right into the middle of the box, and the Nigerian striker headed the ball in off the left post.
The Nigerian thought he doubled their advantage in the 80th minute, but his effort was ruled out for offside, before Success bundled in the leveller in stoppage time, netting from a Thomas Kristensen header.
Napoli moved up to eighth on 51 points from 35 games and are nine points behind both fifth-placed Atalanta and Roma, in sixth.
Data Debrief:
Osimhen is the third Napoli player to score in six matches in a row against a single team in Serie A in the three-points-for-a-win era, after Gonzalo Higuain against Lazio between 2013 and 2016 and Dries Mertens against Bologna between 2016 and 2019.
Despite fighting back to earn a point, Udinese have now failed to win three games under a new manager for the first time since August-September 2010 under Francesco Guidolin.
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