Italy names crack team for Nigeria friendly

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)