Hungary defender Bendeguz Bolla has claimed that the Republic of Ireland have been provoking opponents into receiving red cards ahead of the two sides' crucial final World Cup qualifier in Budapest on Sunday.
The Boys in Green head to the Hungarian capital one point adrift of Rossi's squad. If Heimir Hallgrimsson's Ireland win the 2pm Irish time kick-off (live on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player), Ireland will book their place in next March's play-offs.
Ireland put qualification hopes into their own hands going to Budapest by beating group leaders Portugal 2-0 thanks to a brace from Troy Parrott at Aviva Stadium on Thursday.
That match was particularly notable for a red card to Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo for an elbow on Dara O'Shea.
It is the third home match in Ireland's campaign that has seen an opposition player sent off. In October, Armenia had Tigran Barseghyan in the Irish side's 1-0 win in Dublin for headbutting Finn Azaz and in the opening match of the campaign in September, a sending off for Roland Sallai precipitated a comeback to salvage a 2-2 draw.
But as Ireland and Hungary prepare to meet again in a fixture that will be officiated by Norwegian ref Espen Eskas, the hosts' manager Marco Rossi as well as right back Bolla used their pre-match press conference to highlight what they saw as Ireland's approach.
"Of course we have noticed that they like provoking their opponents," Bolla told Irish media.
"We can never afford to retaliate or make mistakes, like in the first match when we played with a numerical disadvantage."
Meanwhile, Rossi pointed out the physicality shown by Ireland.
"I don't think we have to make our players aware of provocation," he said.
"The Irish, like all the British players, they do their job on the pitch, it will be not a question for us, we will only be focused on what we have to do, be aggressive as well, going into the crashes, the duels and tackles, with no fear."
The Italian had been particularly critical of referee Harm Osmers following the Aviva Stadium meeting on 7 September.
"We started well and dominated the game but then the referee began to think it was a wrestling match not a football match. And it should be for both sides," Rossi said at the time.
"The first goal was a clear elbow from Collins on Barnabas Varga. You look at me like I say stupid things? It was a clear elbow. And then we have to defend with the ten men.
"I'm not happy with him (Sallai) and his attitude but he reacted to a clear, clear foul on our player. It was a reaction of frustration but at least the referee could have given a yellow. But our player should avoid a reaction like that in the future.
"When we play at home, I will be really surprised if we have a referee like this today, leaving them killing us in every contact."
Watch Hungary v Republic of Ireland in World Cup qualifying on Sunday from 1.00pm on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
