Lippi has reacted furiously after his side were pegged back in Bari as he launches a stinging attack on the referee...

Italy coach Marcello Lippi is furious at referee Wolfgang Stark after his side played 90 minutes of the 1-1 draw with Ireland a man down.

The German referee sent off Giampaolo Pazzini after just three minutes of the game following an elbow incident which left John O'Shea with a cut to his eye. The decision was extremely harsh as replays show there was no intent from the striker.

Lippi has not held back during his post-match interview and he believes the referee played a huge role in the outcome of the game.

"We always moan about Italian referees, but I think it's about time we looked at the foreign ones," thundered Lippi to Rai after the game.

"That's all I have to say on this game. We played 90 minutes with 10 men for an interpretation of violence which was seen by everyone.

"These things shouldn't happen as this in international football and we played with 10 men the whole game for something like that. It's absolutely wrong, it's not right at all."

Robbie Keane put the sword into the Italian hopes of three points with just minutes to go when he equalised. Lippi is happy with the way his side played, but he insists the result was down to some poor decisions.

"We tried to fight, we closed down and did what we did. It's a shame we conceded a goal in the final moment. And it's such a shame that we had to play a game like this with 10 against 11 because of the referee," concluded the coach.