Del Piero left out by Italy again

Alessandro Del Piero's Euro 2008 hopes suffered a fresh blow yesterday when Italy coach Roberto Donadoni left the striker out of his squad for Wednesday's friendly in Spain.

The 33-year-old Juventus captain has not played for the world champions since his poor performance in a goalless Euro 2008 qualifier against France in September when Donadoni used him out of position on the wing.

Donadoni's squad for Italy's penultimate test before the Euro finals contained no major surprises.

Striker Marco Borriello kept his place after making his debut in February's 3-1 friendly win over Portugal. Borriello, who has scored 17 league goals for Genoa this season, is expected to understudy Bayern Munich's Luca Toni in Austria and Switzerland in June.

Inter defender Marco Materazzi is in line to make his first appearance for Italy since injuring his thigh in the 3-1 friendly defeat in Hungary last August.

Sampdoria forward Antonio Cassano seems to have blown his chances by picking up a five-match ban for verbally abusing a referee in a recent Serie A game, the latest in a series of incidents of indiscipline.

Italy host Belgium in Florence on May 30 in their final Euro 2008 warm-up.

Squad

Goalkeepers: Amelia (Livorno), Buffon (Juventus).

Defenders: Barzagli (Palermo), Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Grosso (Lyon), Materazzi (Inter), Oddo (Milan), Panucci (Roma), Zambrotta (Barcelona).

Midfielders: Ambrosini (Milan), Aquilani (Roma), Camoranesi (Juventus), De Rossi (Roma), Gattuso (Milan), Perrotta (Roma), Pirlo (Milan).

Forwards: Borriello (Genoa), Di Natale (Udinese), Iaquinta (Juventus), Quagliarella (Udinese), Toni (Bayern Munich).