Arsène Wenger has backed the appointment of Giovanni Trapattoni as Ireland manager.
 
The Italian, who was appointed this week, has an incredible CV including Milan, Juventus, Inter, Bayern Munich, Fiorentina, Benfica, Stuttgart and Italy. However, at 68, there were suggestions he was too old. The 58-year-old Wenger disagreed.
 
"Why?," said the Arsenal manager. "He has fantastic health and still has the drive. I personally believe that winning and losing matters to you until the last day of your life. It matters more to some and less to others. For example [Greece manager] Otto Rehhagel is 69 and is still like a young boy."

Copyright 2013 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source 15 Feb 2008