The 72-year-old will face his native country in his role as Republic of Ireland manager in Liege, Belgium tomorrow night days after 16 people were arrested following an investigation into allegations involving Italy's lower divisions.

Interior minister Roberto Maroni wants a special task force to be set up to tackle match-fixing in a country which had to deal with a major scandal back in 2006 when Trapattoni's former club Juventus were stripped of two Serie A titles and relegated.

Asked about the matter during his pre-match press conference at the Maurice Dufrasne Stadium in Liege this evening, the Ireland manager said: "I am deeply saddened.

"Italy and its football are seen all over the world. We have the eyes of the world on us and in a way, we shoot ourselves in the foot, we hurt ourselves and it is just impossible to believe.

"There are and there always have been strange people in football and around football.

"What I find stranger is that young players let themselves get involved in these type of situations.

"It happened back in my day as well, but I always kept my distance. That's what matters, you need to keep your distance.

"We, culturally, need to find a way to eliminate this sort of thing from football."

Trapattoni bemoaned the latest development and the message it sends to youngsters at a time when the authorities are trying to stress the importance of fair play.

Ireland, of course, suffered the misery of World Cup elimination at the hands - quite literally - of Thierry Henry'sFrance, and while that may be a different issue, he believes it is all part of the same problem.

Trapattoni said: "We speak about fair play - I go to schools talking about fair play, and then we see situations like happened in France.

"It saddens me, particularly when young players get involved."

Trapattoni was asked specifically about Atalanta captain Cristiano Doni, who played for him during his spell as national boss, and who is under investigation.

He refused to be drawn, however.

Trapattoni said: "I am not going to name names, I am not going to talk about one player or the other.

"What saddens me the most is the general situation and the mentality that has to be changed.

"Whether somebody is or isn't guilty, or I thought he could be or couldn't be guilty, is irrelevant."