Sunday 7 October 2007

Azzurri: Donadoni leaves out Del Piero & Inzaghi

Italy coach Roberto Donadoni has omitted strikers Alessandro Del Piero and Filippo Inzaghi from an already depleted squad for the Euro 2008 qualifier with Georgia next Saturday.

Donadoni has been denied the services of suspended skipper Fabio Cannavaro as well as World Cup-winning quartet Gianluca Zambrotta, Marco Materazzi, Mauro Camoranesi and Simone Perrotta. Roma star Alberto Aquilani is also injured.

But he has chosen not to rely on veteran forwards Del Piero and Inzaghi for the clash with Georgia at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa and the friendly with South Africa in Siena four days later.

Fiorentina midfielder Riccardo Montolivo is called up for the first time while Daniele Bonera and Stefano Mauri are back in favour.


The squad will congregate at the Coverciano training base in Florence on Monday and begin training on Tuesday.

While the Azzurri have one qualifier, their main two Group B rivals have a double header. Leaders Scotland face Ukraine at home and Georgia away, while France travel to the Faroe Islands and take on Lithuania.

Squad in full:
Goalkeepers: Marco Amelia (Livorno), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Gianluca Curci (Roma).
Defenders: Andrea Barzagli (Palermo), Daniele Bonera (Milan), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Alessandro Gamberini (Fiorentina), Fabio Grosso (Lione), Massimo Oddo (Milan), Christian Panucci (Roma).
Midfielders: Massimo Ambrosini (Milan), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Gennaro Gattuso (Milan), Stefano Mauri (Lazio), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Andrea Pirlo (Milan).
Forwards: Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Pasquale Foggia (Cagliari), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Cristiano Lucarelli (Shakhtar Donetsk), Fabio Quagliarella (Udinese), Luca Toni (Bayern Munich).

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