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European Qualifiers: Robbie Keane confident ahead of Republic of Ireland's trip to Germany

DUBLIN, IRELAND - OCTOBER 11:  Captain Robbie Keane of Republic of Ireland congratulates James McClean of Republic of Ireland  on scoring their fourth goal
Image: Robbie Keane: Doesn't fear Germany

Robbie Keane says the Republic of Ireland will go into Tuesday’s game in Germany confident they can get a good result against the World Cup winners.

The two sides will clash in Gelsenkirchen with Germany smarting from a 2-0 loss to Poland on Saturday in Warsaw, while Ireland will be fresh from a 7-0 thrashing of Gibraltar.

Keane scored a hat-trick in the first 18 minutes of that match and now has a record 21 goals in European qualifiers, one more than Turkey’s Hakan Sukur managed.

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And the 34-year-old will be hoping he can add to his tally against the Germans on Tuesday.

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"There is no reason why we can't go there and get something out of the game," said Keane.

"It's going to be tough. They are the world champions and it will be completely different from the game against Gibraltar, but we are going there with confidence.

"If someone had said before the qualifying tournament that we'd be going to Germany with six points, we'd have taken that.

"All that gives us is confidence and we will go there believing we can get something.

"We have to work hard for each other. We have the quality in our team to give the Germans problems and players who can score goals against them."

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Niall Quinn praised Robbie Keane's outstanding contribution for the Republic of Ireland against Gibraltar

Keane has now scored 65 goals for the Republic in his career, just three fewer than West Germany legend Gerd Muller.

However, Keane says personal landmarks are not his top priority.

Asked if he was aware of the great goalscorers he was matching, he said: “I get messages from people telling me - my brother tells me all the time.

"He texts me and my mates text me, but I genuinely couldn't tell you who's even close to me on it, that's being honest.

“I know (Miroslav) Klose (the German who Keane is six goals behind) - that's as far as I know.

"Honestly, I don't really think about it. Like I said, I get messages from people, but personally I don't really think about it.

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"I never think about what's happened before and I never think about what's going to happen in the future, because I can't predict what's going to happen.

"The past is the past. I scored those goals, but I'm so focused on what I'm doing now that I'm not really interested in anybody else, to be honest."

The Republic’s assistant manager Roy Keane was a regular in the team when a 17-year-old Keane made his senior debut and says he is not surprised at how prolific the forward has proved.

“Robbie is a goalscorer, the stats will tell you that,” he said. “There's no surprises with Robbie.

"To be fair to him, he keeps doing it. He keeps doing the business and trains well, he's a good professional. I'm not surprised by that at all.

"We know what Robbie brings to the team.

“We know the hardest part of football is scoring goals and Robbie has done that for what, the last 12, 15 years for Ireland, so there were no surprises there with Robbie."

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