Injured Del Piero out of Italy squad

April 22, 2000
SportsServer

Rome, Italy - Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero will miss Italy's friendly against Portugal this week after suffering a minor muscle injury in his side's 1-0 defeat of Fiorentina on Saturday.

Del Piero was substituted in the 72nd minute after scoring the decisive goal from the penalty spot.

"The Azzurri shirt means a lot to me, but I'll have to see what the medic says," he said.

The diagnosis was a slightly pulled muscle and when Dino Zoff later named his 21-man party for Wednesday's match in the southern city of Reggio Calabria, Del Piero's name was not on the list.

Parma midfielder Diego Fuser also misses out through injury after limping off in the 19th minute of his side's 0-0 draw with AS Roma.

There were few other surprises in the squad.

The abscence of Del Piero and long term casualty Christian Vieri could pave the way for brothers Filippo Inzaghi and Simone Inzaghi to play together for Italy for the first time.

Simone Inzaghi made his debut for Italy in their last match, a 2-0 defeat by Spain, but Filippo was not on the pitch, having been substituted at halftime.

Wednesday's match is Italy's last home clash before Euro 2000. It faces Norway in Oslo on the eve of the tournament.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Parma), Francesco Toldo (Fiorentina)

Defenders: Paolo Negro and Alessandro Nesta (both Lazio), Paolo Maldini (AC Milan), Fabio Cannavaro (Parma), Mark Iuliano, Gianluca Pessotto, Ciro Ferrara (all Juventus)

Midfielders: Gianluca Zambrotta, Antonio Conte (both Juventus), Demetrio Albertini, Massimo Ambrosini (both AC Milan), Stefano Fiore (Udinese), Paolo Vanoli (Parma), Eusebio Di Francesco (AS Roma), Luigi Di Biagio (Inter Milan)

Forwards: Filippo Inzaghi (Juventus), Simone Inzaghi (Lazio), Francesco Totti, Marco Delvecchio (AS Roma)
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