Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni admits he's a big fan of Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov.

Berba will miss Ireland's World Cup qualifier with Bulgaria due to injury and Trapattoni said: "Players like that can get into the game in a split-second and turn it completely.

"For me, it is better they are out because they have the possibility to create.

"Berbatov is a very, very important player, but in my experience, you cannot afford to just think about one player.

"Bulgaria are a strong team and they have other strong players. We cannot think it is an easy game because they are missing Berbatov.

"They have other very, very important players. They have [Stiliyan] Petrov, [Ivelin] Popov, [Blagoy] Georgiev - they are very, very important players.

"But the most important thing is our mentality and our performance."