Walters happy for Ireland to win anyhow against Spain

Gdansk, June 14 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Ireland striker Jon Walters does not care if his team wins ugly against Spain at Euro 2012 Thursday night, just as long as they win, he has suggested.

Ireland will pull off a shock victory against the reigning world champions to stand a realistic chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals after a 1-3 defeat to Croatia in the their opening match Sunday.

"In certain games you're not always going to play attractive football," the Stoke City striker said in comments on the UEFA website.

"You go out there to get the result, and in a couple of years' time it's not how well you play; you look back at results and that's all that matters."

Walters likened the game to the Champions League semi-final between Chelsea and Barcelona, when the Londoners beat the reigning champions on the way to snatching an unlikely first European title.

"You're going out there against 11 men, it's not 11 superheroes," Walters said.

"You look at games going on in the season. People said Barcelona were unbeatable in Europe, and Chelsea went and beat them."

After the Spain game, Giovanni Trappatoni's Ireland team face a second daunting task when they play Italy Monday.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

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