Aston Villa skipper Stiliyan Petrov won't be hanging up his international boots yet

Oct 3 2010 by Mat Kendrick, Sunday Mercury

STILIYAN Petrov won’t be hanging up his Bulgaria boots just yet – after being boosted by new bosses for club and country.

There were rumours the Villa captain would quit international football after back-to-back Euro 2012 qualifying defeats.

But ‘Stan’, whose continuation as Villa skipper has been confirmed by Gerard Houllier, is relishing a fresh international start.

Bulgarian coach Stanimir Stoilov quit after defeats to England and Montenegro and hinted that skipper Petrov could follow him.

But the 31-year-old midfielder has been given a new lease of life by the appointment of former Germany star Lothar Matthaeus.

Petrov now intends to stick to his pledge to remain until the end of the qualifying campaign, or the competition proper if Matthaeus can revive Bulgaria’s fortunes.

“I will stay until the end of the campaign,” he said. “If we qualify I will play in the tournament, if we don’t I’ll quit the national team.

“I will see it through. We are going through a really tough time but I don’t want to run away from my responsibility.

“It would be easy to get up and leave but I don’t look at it that way. I never run away from responsibility.