Azzurri: Materazzi ruled out

Marco Materazzi has been forced to withdraw from Italy’s squad to play Portugal on Wednesday due to an injury - with Alessandro Gamberini replacing him.

Materazzi reported a back pain after the Inter’s clash against Empoli last weekend, but still travelled to Zurich with the rest of the Azzurri squad.

The Nerazzurri defender had hoped to shrug off the problem, but was instead unable to train yesterday.


An extended physiotherapy session doesn’t seem to have put him back into contention for a place in the starting line-up, so he will fly back to Italy later today.

Fiorentina's Gamberini was already on stand-by but he has now joined the rest of the squad and coach Roberto Donadoni will have just 19 men at his disposal after the withdrawal of Franco Semioli at the weekend.

Source: C4 Football Italia