Stiliyan Petrov plays on for Bulgaria

Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov has no plans to retire from international football despite Bulgaria's failure to qualify for Euro 2012.

Yordan Lechkov, vice-president of the country's football union and a member of the Bulgaria team which reached the World Cup semi-finals in 1994, had urged Petrov to "retire with dignity."

But Petrov, who won his 104th cap in the defeat to Switzerland last night, is determined to continue to playing for the national side as long as possible.

The 32-year-old also dismissed conspiracy theories that Bulgarian Football Union president Borislav Mikhailov, previously the national team's record appearance holder with 102, is trying to downgrade some of his caps.

Petrov said: "A lot of people have been saying that but I don't believe it. Borislav is a nice guy. It's stupid that people write these things.

"People were saying that when I broke the appearance record I would retire, but I won't do it. I'll keep playing for my country the way I played in my first game right through to my last game."