Italy coach Cesare has named a 28-man
strong squad ahead of the friendlies with
Germany and Nigeria.
Italy host Germany in Milan on Friday and
then travel to London where the Azzurri will
meet Nigeria at Fulham’s Craven Cottage
stadium next Monday.
Top on Prandelli’s list are Juventus’ Gianluigi
Buffon, Thiago Motta of PSG, AC Milan’s
Mario Balotelli, Daniele De Rossi of AS Roma
and Angelo Ogbonna of Juventus, who gets a
chance to face a team from his fatherland for
the first time.
Zenit Saint Petersburg defender Domenico
Criscito and Parma’s Marco Parolo are among
the few fresh faces in the squad.
Criscito makes the Azzurri squad for the first
time since October 2012, although months
earlier he was excluded, prior to Euro 2012,
for his alleged role in a match-fixing dispute.
He replaces injured Juventus defender Giorgio
Chiellini.
Italy, who qualified for next year’s World Cup
in Brazil with two games to spare, will also be
without injured PSG midfielder Marco
Verratti.
Parolo is making his second appearance in the
team, having made the squad for a friendly
against Ukraine in March 2011.
The squad:
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus),
Federico Marchetti (Lazio), Salvatore Sirigu
(PSG/FRA)
Defenders: Ignazio Abate (AC Milan), Federico
Balzaretti (AS Roma), Leonardo Bonucci
(Juventus), Christian Maggio (Napoli), Angelo
Ogbonna (Juventus), Manuel Pasqual
(Fiorentina), Andrea Ranocchia (Inter),
Domenico Criscito (Zenit St Petersbourg/RUS)
Midfielders: Antonio Candreva (Lazio), Daniele
De Rossi (AS Roma), Alessandro Diamanti
(Bologna), Alessandro Florenzi (Roma),
Emanuele Giaccherini (Sunderland/ENG),
Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Riccardo
Montolivo (AC Milan), Thiago Motta (Paris
Saint-Germain/FRA), Marco Parolo (Parma),
Andrea Pirlo (Juventus), Andrea Poli (AC Milan)
Strikers: Mario Balotelli (AC Milan), Alessio
Cerci (Torino), Alberto Gilardino (Genoa),
Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Pablo Osvaldo
(Southampton/ENG), Giuseppe Rossi
(Fiorentina)

http://www.punchng.com/sports/italy-names-crack-team-for-nigeria-friendly/

We hope to face their best squad so that they dont have a reason for their loss

More of such competitors will take us from were we ar to were we wanna be not southafrica, Malta, Gabon, Uzbekistan, Kenya, Eritrea n dia lyks.
Howeva, We gonna defeat dem just as d Ethiopian Emperor defeated dem. I feel so sorry for Balotelli.

Its not about the WIN but the interest of the game so GAME ON!!!

Super Eagles perform very well against big teams. Trust me, the best Italy will get from this game is a draw. Should we beat Italy, there is no doubting the fact that our rating would rise rapidly.