Alessandro Del Piero's impressive form at club level cannot be indefinitely ignored by Italy coach Roberto Donadoni, according to Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri.
Del Piero's good form for Juventus this season has failed to impress Donadoni who again left the striker out of his squad, named on Saturday, for the world champions' friendly in Spain on Wednesday.
Ranieri said the 33-year-old Del Piero, capped 85 times by Italy but who has not played for his country since giving a poor performance in a goalless Euro 2008 qualifier against France in September, can still make an important contribution at international level.
"Maybe Donadoni is waiting to call him up at the right time, at the European Championship," he said. "He deserves it. He is having an exceptional season and a player like him always comes in handy for a coach."
In helping Juventus to a memorable 2-1 win over leaders Inter at the San Siro on Saturday, Del Piero equalled Gaetano Scirea's record of 552 appearances for the Turin giants.
Del Piero's hopes of forcing his way back into Italy's squad for the Euro 2008 finals in June in Switzerland and Austria appear to be fading. But, with things going well at club level, he is not letting the situation get him down.
"Donadoni didn't call me this time. Last time he did and he explained his decision, but I'm happy, it was a beautiful match," he told Sky television after Saturday's game, which puts promoted Juve 10 points behind Inter and six behind Roma in third place.
It has taken 15 years for Del Piero to reach the tally notched up in the 1970s and 80s by the late Scirea, considered one of Italy's best ever defenders and a member of the 1982 World Cup-winning team.
Del Piero surpassed Giampiero Boniperti's record as the club's all-time top scorer in 2006, and has since taken his Juventus total up to 231 goals.
Earlier this month Del Piero and another illustrious national-team reject, French striker David Trezeguet, overtook Omar Sivori and John Charles to become Juve's most prolific strike partnership in Serie A.
They have amassed a total of 198 top-flight goals since they started playing together in 2000, two more than Italian-Argentine Sivori and Welsh striker Charles scored between 1957 and 1962.
With three years left on his contract, Del Piero has plenty of time to set goal and appearance records for Juventus that will not be broken for a very long time.
And, fired by never-faltering self-belief, the forward's days of service for national team may not be over yet.